Goblins, Elves and Harry Potter
by dreamjanus
Summary: Harry just returned from his 1st shopping trip in the Wizarding World and now his aunt and uncle are selling him to the goblins. Fear not things are not what they seem, Very light slash in later chapters.
1. Prologue

A/N: This is unbetaed, so if anyone wants to help, contact me.

_**Goblins, Elves and Harry Potter - Prologue**_

Harry James Potter had recently learned that he was a wizard; just yesterday, a large man named Hagrid had taken him to Diagon Alley for his school supplies for Hogwarts, the school he would spend the next seven years learning magic. Now three men were sitting in his aunt and uncle's lounge discussing a business arrangement that involved Harry leaving 4 Privet Drive and never returning, except maybe on rare visits. That terrified Harry, he hide at the top of the stairs listening to everything that was being said and the longer the conversation dragged on the more terrified Harry became, it sounded like he would never see Hogwarts now. Finally, the man who was doing most of the talking spoke louder than usual, saying "So we are in agreement then?"

"BOY GET DOWN HERE," Uncle Vernon bellowed.

Harry quickly rushed down the stairs stopping just inside the lounge itself. "Yes uncle Vernon?" he asked softly.

"Your Aunt and I just signed you up to work for Mr. Hook here and his bank," Vernon said in an unusually mild voice, nodding to the man who had done most of the talking. "You will work for them for the rest of this summer, your Christmas holidays and all of next summer, plus the same for the next three years."

Harry turned to the man known as Mr. Hook and softly asked, "What about my schooling?" He almost missed the look that passed between the three men, but was forced to pay attention to his uncle.

Vernon's face began to turn purple with anger, but his tirade was stopped when Mr. Hooke answered. "You will be expected to start and continue your schooling at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the duration of you contract." The man's eyes gleamed with a light that Harry could only think was mischievous as they watched Vernon explode.

"YOU ARE SOME OF THOSE FREAKS!" Vernon bellowed. "I WON'T HAVE IT!"

"No sir we are not the Wizards, you call Freak." Mr. Hook said calmly. Handing Harry a card that read "G. Hook – Acquisitions, Gringotts Bank

"Then what are you?" Petunia asked interjecting across the rant she was sure Vernon was building toward as his face began alternating colors that were not healthy.

"We are bankers Madam,"


	2. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters. I am not making money off of them nor do I intend to do so. I am only borrowing them for a brief time.

A/N "Spoken English", 'Thoughts', {Gobbledegook}

Chapter One

Harry was surprised that the argument that followed ended with Uncle Vernon yelling and then leaving the house to 'Take a drive' by himself. Aunt Petunia was not happy, but the 'Bankers' explained that they had already signed a contract and it was binding, magically in the Magical world and legally in the Muggle world.

Half an hour later, Harry had packed his meager belongings into a shopping bag and his school trunk. Hedwig was in her cage hooting softly. One of the men took the cage and trunk and Harry was gently led quickly to a new looking car.

Moments after they left Privet Drive, Harry felt the car jerk to the side and the next thing he realized they were no longer in car, but standing in an ornate office somewhere Harry could not identify. His fear level again began to rise as he saw several strange animal heads and very sharp weapons adorning the office walls.

Behind a massive desk sat, the oldest looking Goblin Harry had ever seen or could imagine. His fear again began to rise, but was quickly cut off when the Goblin asked, "Please sit down Mr. Potter, would you like something to eat and drink while we talk?" The Goblin's voice reminded Harry of gravel, but he felt the goblin meant no harm.

Harry quickly sat down in the nearest guest chair and softly said, "Thank you sir."

With a snap of his fingers, the elder Goblin caused a platter of sandwiches to appear with a pitcher of something that smelled like Butterscotch. "I am Sharpmaw," The Goblin began to explain; "I am for lack of better Wizard terms, the vice-president of Gringotts Bank."

Sharpmaw then turned to the men in the room and asked, "How did it go?"

Mr. Hook reached into his shirt and grasped his arm. A brief flicker of light and Harry was surprised to see the Mr. Hook was in fact Griphook the goblin that had taken him to his vault the day before. The other men repeated Griphook's actions and they became Goblins as well.

"The male muggle really hates Mr. Potter," Griphook said with a sad shake of his head. "We attempted to have Mr. Potter work for us and return at night to sleep, but the Muggle refused, after several similar attempts I was forced to show him a standard indenturing contract, which he agreed to sign, but for twice the regular fee."

Sharpmaw cursed in Gobbledegook as he shook his head. He then mumbled under his breath about the trouble it could cause. With a sad expression, He then looked at Harry and asked. "Do you understand what your muggle relatives think they have done to you?"

"No sir," Harry said softly, fear slowly creeping back into Harry's already scared mind.

"They believe that they have sold you into the modern equivalent of slavery, for five years." Sharpmaw said softly.

Harry broke down then and began to cry. He had known that the Dursleys hated him, but this was beyond anything he thought they might do.

The Goblins began to fidget as Harry cried, the show of emotions was not something usually done in the Goblin's public life, only in private with only family around them. Sharpmaw got up from his chair and walked slowly toward Harry. "Things are not as they seem youngling," He said softly. "It was only a way for us to bring you here so we could help you in your life."

Just as Sharpmaw finished saying that, two high-pitched sharp squeals were heard from outside the door of the office. The heavy office door blow open, slamming it into the wall. The two guards outside were both holding their stomachs while at the same time rubbing their heads. All four of the Goblins in the room winced and said at the same time in Gobbledegook {Oh Shit}. Standing in the doorway was a short squat goblin woman who looked enraged.

{SHARPMAW, why is the youngling so upset?} The woman roared in Gobbledegook. {If you have hurt him, I will dent your head with my Frogra pot and you will be sleeping with the Massic for a month.} She then glared at the other three goblins.

Griphook and the other two goblins flinched in sympathy, being hit by the goblin equivalent of a stew pot and having to sleep with the goblin equivalent of a family pet. Which looked like a cross between a dog and large iguana was the greatest punishment a goblin could give their mate.

{Stoneater my wife, please calm yourself. It was brought on by having to tell the youngling what his Drassle (Shit eating) family did to him} cringed Sharpmaw from the look she was giving them.

Stoneater looked at Harry and sighed, {Tell me}. She was quickly informed of what had happened. After a few menacing glares toward Griphook she settled down and took Harry into her arms.

Harry was now even more scared of the female goblin then the men were, that was until she took him into her arms and hugged him gently. "Know this youngling, the paper may say you are a slave, but none here look at you as such. Blindsight will not allow it." Stoneater said calming Harry. She then turned to Sharpmaw and said in Gobbledegook, {Explain to the boy and get him to the healers, he is too small for his age and I feel…" She paused and sighed, {Something else is wrong with him.}

Sharpmaw nodded and then smiled at Harry. The smile to most non-goblins could be considered a soundless snarl as it showed his teeth, but an already confused Harry accepted it as it was intended. "Harry the reason for our interest in you is not to make you into a slave as that contract suggests, but to help you learn what you must as quickly as possible, so you can do what is required of you and likely lead a happy life afterward."

"I don't understand," Harry said softly, still being held in the arms of Stoneater.

"We want to help you and by helping you, help ourselves to a better future." Sharpmaw began again. "And possibly add a lot of gold for both of us." He said as an afterthought.

A deep growl from Stoneater silenced further explanations. "Harry what these slow speaking males are trying to say is that there have been a total of seven prophecies made about you before and after your birth. The goblin nation's Lady Seer Blindsight made six of them and a human seer repeated most of one of them, and in doing so made it a separate prophecy. She as well as our King and our Queen ordered that the whole of the goblin nation to help you learn as quickly as possible to help you fulfill your destiny."

"It seems as if one of the prophecies is already being fulfilled as you speak," said a new voice. Everyone in the room jumped as they realized a new goblin had appeared in the room.

Immediately upon recognizing the speaker, each of the goblins dropped to the floor in worshipful bow. As Harry began to do the same thing, he felt a clawed finger touch his chin and stopped him. "Prophecy Child you do not bow to me, EVER. It is I that should bow to you instead." It was then Harry noticed the woman appeared to be blind; her eyes were milky white with no other color.

"Lady Seer Blindsight?" Harry asked.

The woman nodded silently.

"I am no one special; I am just Harry the Freak." Harry whispered. 

"You may be Harry, but you are not a Freak," Blindsight said with a soft cold voice. Harry felt her anger, but knew it was not directed at him. "You are a powerful being and by the end of your time with the goblin nation you will much more than even that, youngling."

The sightless seer then turned to Stoneater, her eyes glowing a bright white and said, "_**The Prophecy child approaches,**_ _**Stormbrow Deatheyes shall come to sharpened mouth and eater of stone frightened and alone, but shall find family in their arms. The Prophecy child approaches, many shall hear his cries but only a scarce few shall answer with the power he desires and needs the most, The Prophecy child approaches.**_"

Both Sharpmaw and Stoneater were shocked and Harry was even more confused. Blindsight turned to Harry; her eyes returning to their normal soft white and said. "Some things have been explained to you and I will explain more now, you will be staying with Sharpmaw and Stoneater until you must go to Hogwarts. They will see that you are given training and a place to call home." She paused so he could absorb those facts and then continued, "We have several large caverns under the bank in which time can be compressed or slowed, and it is also within our power to go backward in time in short amounts."

She then stood to her full height and said in a voice that radiated power. "By Royal decree, the Goblin Nation is hereby ordered to take Harold James Potter, commonly known as Harry Potter and henceforth named Stormbrow Deatheyes into the Caverns of time. He will be taken back to the 1st of June, where he will spend time in the 30:1, 20:1, 10:1 and 5:1 Caverns, repeating that time for each cavern until the real-time date of August 30th. He will also be allowed to spend the same time in real time repeating the same time five times."

Blindsight took a deep breath allowing time for Harry to assimilate the information and then continued, "It is further it is ordered that he will be seen by all required healers and treated by them as they may require. He will repeat this training schedule each summer and winter Holiday, until such time as the prophecies have been fulfilled." A snarling smile crossed her face as she added, "He may also use the 50:1 Cavern during any summer after this one, if he and his training so choose." She then walked out of the room without another word.

"Huh?" Harry asked dumbly.

"We were just ordered to take you back in time almost two months," Sharpmaw explained. "When we get there we will see our healers so they can give you healing for everything that has happened to you in the past. We will then spend time in four caverns, each with time slowed at different rates."

"The first cavern will be 30:1 which means that for every day in normal time thirty are spent there, giving you about seven and a half years of training. Once we are done there we will again go back in time and go to another cavern which is 20:1 it will give you five years, repeating again with 10:1 will give around two and a half years. Lastly 5:1 will give you a year and a quarter." Sharpmaw continued. "When that is done you will have over sixteen years of goblin training and be able to take the rest of the summer off."

An hour later Harry found himself back in time on June 1st, deep in caverns that no human had ever seen. He was laying on a stone table with four goblin healers chanting different spells over him, each of their hands glowing in different colored lights. Each healer stopped at a different time, but each one seemed to be swearing in gobbledegook.

Both Sharpmaw and Stoneater were waiting to hear the healers' findings, but as each one began cussing, Stoneater became more and more upset. Finally, she could handle it no longer and with a growl demanded, "WELL!"

The first healer shook his head and said, "It is a good thing we are to go into time compression for three months as it is just with my assessment he would require a large chunk of that in real-time." He could see that Stoneater was getting angrier and decided to help her route it properly. "My scans were of his bones and nerves only. I found that he has had several bones broken which did not set properly, they seemed to be healed only by his own internal magic, I can also see that they have been hindered by chronic malnutrition and abuse, his nerves are also limitedly affected." He then sighed, "It will take at least a week of removing and regrowing the damaged bones, a nerve regeneration potion plus continuing nutrition potions and high calorie meals to have proper healing."

The second healer nodded with the assessment, "His musculature and general growth has been retarded by at least three human years. He has obvious scars that had to be created by a leather strap, belt or whip of some kind on his back, buttocks and legs. His body has been feeding off his magic for so long that I would think it would attempt to accelerate healing if it were relieved of the job of keeping him alive." He then patted Harry gently on the head and softly said, "I prescribe scar removing potion for his back and I estimate a month of maturation potions and general healing potions, followed by light to moderate exercise for an additional three months."

The third healer had a look that could only be described as livid on her face. "Stormbrow's powers and abilities have been intentionally stunted, blocked and in some cases bound." She growled. "The stunted abilities and powers can be fixed by cutting his connection to a badly constructed blood ward and proper low impact exercise." She then smoothed Harry's hair. "There appear to be five blocks, one of which appears to be placed by his parents. It should have been taken off before he received his wand; as such, it should be the easiest to remove. The other four blocks are specific and have been placed by someone else, regardless they can and must be removed, unfortunately, it will be painful. "

"How much pain?" Harry asked, "Like a broken arm or like being whipped?"

The healer smiled sadly at Harry and said, "The one by your parents won't hurt, but it might not feel good, it was never meant to stay on this long." She then placed her hand on his shoulder and sighed, "The others will vary in the amount of pain, so I would suggest putting you to sleep for a few days to help you with the pain." Her eyes filled with unshed tears. "The bad part is the powers that have been bound. They have been bound so long that there will be a power backlash and it will make the other pain feel small in comparison." She then turned to Sharpmaw and Stoneater and sadly said. "We would need to shield the area and route the energy into the ward stones, plus he will need to be unconscious for at least a week and a half total, just for my part."

The fourth healer was silently crying as he heard the other results as well as compiled his own. "My news is the worst yet, Stormbrow has three different forms of spell damage, two of which can be dealt with only one way and the third can be dealt with in an assortment of different ways." He paused trying to gain his own emotional balance. "He has a soul shard."

The room exploded in loud upset voices yelling in gobbledegook. Harry finally had to yell so he could ask a question. "What is a soul shard?"

Stoneater rushed to Harry and hugged him. "A soul shard is also known to Wizards as a Horcrux, it is basically a tore off portion of a beings soul preserved usually in a vessel of some sort and almost never in a living being, it is an evil way of making sure the person whose soul it is, never dies." She then looked directly into Harry's eyes and said, "It will need to be removed."

"Yes," The healer agreed, "and unfortunately it will be very painful and you must be conscious while it is going on.

"What else has happened?" Sharpmaw asked.

"It appears that there are also soul memories attached as well." The healer answered. He then turned to Harry and explained, "Soul memories are memories from the soul that for whatever reason were also transferred, and they can include abilities, skills and/or full memories." He then smiled, "They can be taken out with the soul shard and destroyed, removed to a memory storage device or left. If you have them removed with the shard it will increase the amount of pain, if they are removed and stored after it will be uncomfortable but will not hurt, if you decide to leave them, they can help you by knowing your enemy and will slowly integrate with your own memories."

"Can you explain more about if we left them, would I see the bad things he did?" Harry asked, not really wanting the memories but not wanting any more pain either.

"Basically they would give you better understanding of the people he has hurt in the past, a greater understanding of the things he studied and the potential to gain abilities he possessed." The healer explained.

"You would be able to do charms easier and better if he was good at them, for example." Sharpmaw explained.

"Well if we can leave them alone and it not hurt me then let's leave them alone," Harry decided. He then asked, "What was the last thing?"

"The scar acts as a mental connection between the two of you," The healer answered. "While it could be used to spy on him, it most likely would cause you considerable amounts of pain to do so. My suggestion is to remove the connection, but after you are mostly if not totally healed from the other issues. It is not presently a high priority."

"Bottom line then?" Sharpmaw asked.

"I would suggest that the shard comes out first, while he is recovering from that, the blocks and stoppages being removed while he is out, as well as giving him all the potions." The first healer suggested. "Once he is done with that we can regrow the bones and other issues easily."

"Agreed" responded the second and third healers in stereo.

"I would suggest that we monitor him during that time to see if he could handle having the bones regrown at the same time." The fourth healer suggested as an alternative. "It may be harder on his body in the short-term but it may benefit him in the long-term."

It was agreed upon that Harry would be well fed that night and given the prescribed potions to help him overnight at the very least. They also agreed that the soul shade would be removed the next morning after breakfast. Harry was ready to have the thing removed immediately, but when he was told that they had several things to discuss first, he accepted the agreement.

Harry was shown to the room that would be his for the next seven and a half years of compressed time. The small room held a bed, dresser, small closet, a desk and bookshelf. Harry was giddy with happiness, while the room was the same size as Dudley's second bedroom, this one had nice furniture and everything appeared to be new, not used, which by itself was enough for Harry to love the room. The closet held several goblin tunics and other clothing, but Harry had been told not to worry about changing until after the soul shard ritual, since he would be starting a new life and in doing so, the old life would be destroyed.

The evening meal was prepared by Stoneater and three other females. The Goblin's ate all meals as a group or in their families. Harry offered to help cook the meal. It was then that Harry learned three new pieces of goblin life. Firstly, males only cooked when they did not have a mate or did not have family. Second, it was considered a great insult for a male to try and 'help' cook any meal. Lastly, Stoneater could make a spoon sting on his knuckles, when she rapped him on the hand as a 'gentle' way to make him leave the kitchen and a future reminder about Goblin manners.

Sharpmaw and several other males that he had not been introduced to yet, laughed good-naturedly at Harry, but it opened the conversation to what needed to be discussed. "Stormbrow we need to discuss your lessons with you and seeing how my mate has already begun the training, I think now is a good time to start explaining them to you."

"Okay," Harry said sitting down on a stool, that Sharpmaw pointed out to him.

"Basically your lessons for the next five years will be broken down into five categories, but there will be some carry over with most of them. Your lessons will be seven days a week and your days will be long, but you will learn and learn well. You will have two classes of Culture and Ethics, two classes in languages, one mind arts class, three magic training classes and three physical training classes." Sharpmaw began to explain.

"The Culture and Ethics classes will include Goblin, Wizard and Muggle related information alternating each day. You will also be dealing with each meal also being related to those cultures. For the first week after you are healed, Breakfast will be Muggle, Lunch shall be Wizard and the evening meal will be Goblin. Each week after that, the meals will rotate." He continued to explain.

"Your Language classes will start out with Gobbledegook and Latin, five of the classes will be in Latin, with the two remaining days being in Gobbledegook. That may not seem right to you, but you have to understand that we will be using more and more Gobbledegook in your other lessons so you will actually be exposed to it more than Latin." Sharpmaw smiled when he saw the confusion in Harry's eyes. "We will begin speaking Gobbledegook in your Culture and Ethics classes, at meals, during some of your magic training and during your physical training."

The spark of understanding in Harry's eyes allowed Sharpmaw to continue.

"Mind Arts will allow you to begin to structure, organize and eventually protect your mind and emotions, from both explosive thoughts and mental attacks from others. Eventually it will be like the Culture and Ethics classes and some of your physical training, becoming self-regulated."

"Your Magical Training will start out with Goblin based magic, Runes, Potions, Arithmancy and any specialized training you may need. The individual classes will rotate just like the others." Sharpmaw then had a mischievous glint in his eye. "Your physical training will start each morning before breakfast with the muggle training called Tai Chi, plus weapons training and Goblin-fu."

With that, Harry burst out laughing. "…Goblin-FU?" He realized that it was a joke of some sort when the other goblins in the room also began laughing.

"Well it is not called that by us, but until you learn to speak Gobbledegook, I guess it will work." Sharpmaw said with a large tooth filled grin. "Once you have understanding of Tai Chi it will be a self-regulated study and we will start another type of physical training."

**The next morning**

Breakfast was in what appeared to be a typical Muggle kitchen. Harry had to stop himself from laughing when he entered, each of the Goblins was dressed in Muggle clothing, and Stoneater even was wearing pearls, a frilly apron and high-healed shoes. Sharpmaw was reading the London Times-Herald, trying to smoke a pipe and acting as if he was ignoring everyone else.

"You do realize I was Muggle-raised and these fashions went out over thirty or forty years ago?" Harry asked, still trying to contain his laughter.

"I knew it!" snarled Stoneater as she ripped the apron from around her waist and kicked the shoes off her feet, shooting them out of the kitchen, each with a single kick each.

A snickering Harry said, "If you are going to use Muggle television as a reference, I would suggest the 'Cosby Show' for fashion and the 'Walton's' for family time during meals, instead of 'Leave it to Beaver'." He then lost the fight with his giggles and laughed heartily.

An hour later, Harry stood in the center of a stone ritual chamber. He was standing perfectly still in the center of a rune engraved circle. Every Goblin who entered the time compression cave, with the exception of the healers stood outside the circle chanting in gobbledegook. The small brigade of Healers was waiting outside the ritual chamber to assist if anything went wrong.

Just as the Goblins' chanting began to crescendo and speed up in tempo, a light engulfed Harry; he screamed out in pain and felt his body lock up so he was unable to move. The pain was worse than anything Harry had ever felt in his young life, It felt like his bones, nerves, and skin were being pulled apart, while at the same time being burnt in a hot fire, and then being slammed back together.

After a short while of screaming, he suddenly lost the ability to do so. As this was happening, Harry saw flames around him and as he looked down, he saw that the reason for the burning feeling was that he was in fact on fire. His clothes burned away and it felt as if his skin was also burning away, but at the same time growing back new.

Harry realized though the pain that his magic was healing his body. He then realized this meant that all his broken bones, scars and whatever else was wrong with him was being healed by the flames. The goblins looked on in shock as the fire continued to burn.

If he was able to, Harry would have been screaming from the pain and the shock of what was happening to him, but his voice was silent. After what felt like an eternity, the pain finally subsided. However, it only lasted for a few minutes.

Just as Harry began to think the worst was over, he felt pain beyond all others within his lightning bolt scar, if Harry could scream he would, but he remained silent as his mouth opened in agony.

It felt like someone was trying to split his head in two with a hacksaw, and at the same time was dipping it into a hot fire. This lasted longer than the first pain. It hurt so much his eyes blurred with hot tears.

Just as the pain within Harry's head began to subside, black smoke slowly curled out from his scar. Although Harry did not see this as he had dropped onto his hands and knees, panting heavily. His mind had already begun to fight the energy that had attached itself to him. He then felt a soul-shattering wrench. The soul shard broke free from his forehead, His energy began to fluctuate from black to a blinding white and the mental connection between him and remaining portions of Voldemort shattered.

As the energy alternated between black and white, the magically placed blockages were destroyed. With their destruction the magic that was behind stoppages exploded. The magical fire increased in heat and intensity. All those that witnessed the magical release knew in their hearts and souls that Harry's magic would never allow a blockage or stoppage ever again.

The ritual chamber was flooded with so much magical energy that all those present were immediately healed of previous infirmities, illnesses and injuries. The room filled with the haunting sounds of Phoenix song, the inner circle which held Harry filled with flames, the ground quaked and the control stone that held the wards for all of Gringotts and the Goblins realm below were filled to the point it would not need recharging for decades.

At that very moment, miles away, two wizard's plans were permanently disrupted. The first wizard was Voldemort who was presently in Albania possessing the body of **Quirenus Quirrell,****who was expecting to teach **Defense against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. The second wizard was**Albus Percival Wulfric Brian****Dumbledore Headmaster of Hogwarts**, who planned to test young Harry that upcoming year. Both wizards' plans changed dramatically.

Voldemort's plans changed as both the connection between his soul and the soul container that was Harry Potter shattered violently. The magical energy that had been supporting Voldemort's wraith-like existence and allowed him to control Quirrell was reduced by two-thirds. That reduction and the ensuing pain temporary and painfully forced Voldemort from Quirrell's body. The forced expulsion caused Quirrell's magic to fracture; the fracture untreated would eventually destroy the unfortunate wizard. Voldemort reentered Quirrell without checking the unfortunate man or his magic.

Albus Dumbledore's plans revolved around tempting Voldemort with the Sorcerer's Stone and using that temptation as a way to test Harry's magic and inborn skills. Of course, the stone in question was a fake, as the real stone never left Nicolas Flamel's presence. Now that Harry was without a Horcrux in his scar and his was being trained, Dumbledore had lost his pawn and the light had lost its martyr.

The moment Harry's magic stabilized and the energy coming from his body remained white, the magical fire disappeared and five smoky images surrounded Harry as if protecting Him. The image of a large owl settled just above Harry's right shoulder, a Raven appeared in the same spot on his left side. A large smoky cat appeared near the ground on Harry's right side with a Griffin on the left. Lastly, the image of a small Phoenix with wings extended appeared over Harry's head.

The Phoenix's song continued until Harry blinked. In that instant, everything returned to normal and Harry passed out without ever releasing the scream of hellish pain he had endured. Sharpmaw shook his head and mumbled to himself, {Well this is going cause me to a totally rework of his training schedule.}

What no one would realize until days later was that time itself had stopped inside the ritual chamber from the moment Harry tried to scream until he passed out. Every timepiece and clock registered a loss of just over forty-five minutes.

A Month later in compressed time, but a single day in real time

Healers had examined Harry's body after the ritual and found that his magic was completely unbound and was growing stronger by the hour and more refined by the day. They removed several weakened and damaged bone, re-growing them each in a day. He was started on the healing, growth, nutritional and stabilizing potions that would be part of his life for six months. Since that examination, Harry slept and his body healed. After he had been unconscious for more than a week, the nutritional potions were modified to help him retain muscle and nerve strength.

Finally, on the 32nd day of being in time compression, Harry began to move and groan as his mind fought to regain consciousness. Stoneater had set a magical alarm on Harry so she would know the minute he began to move, she wanted to be there when he woke up. With a weak moan, Harry opened his eyes to come face to face with the black eyes of a smiling Stoneater.

"Bout time you decide to wake up," She growled playfully, gently thumping him on the forehead. "That damn scar is about healed." She then laughed. "We ruined you for your adoring public, Shula."

"Shula?" Harry asked softly his voice creaking with disuse.

"Don't allow anyone else to use that term with you," Stoneater said now with a serious face. "It is your first word in Gobbledegook. It is the possessive form for male child. Shul is the same but for a female."

Harry nodded in partial understanding.

"If others other than Sharpmaw use it they should use Shupa instead, otherwise it is disrespectful to Sharpmaw, you and more importantly me." She growled in a way that Harry came to realize meant she was partially joking, but her eyes also showed that there was a serious portion as well. What Harry would not learn until much later on in his training was that Stoneater had just declared him, her child.

Another compressed month later

Harry fell into his bed exhausted. For the past month, he had been pushed in every way physically possible. This time was set aside so that Harry could not only strengthen his body, but also help him adjust to the schedule he would be keeping at least for the next year.

Five A.M each morning Harry was woke up to start his day with a muggle martial art known as Tai Chi followed by an hour of general exercises until he was given a hearty breakfast at eight. The rest of the day had been spent doing different forms of physical exercise, learning the basics of Goblin magic and other forms of magic. Each night ended at ten P.M, after an hour of meditation and going within himself and into his magical core.

Harry had gained almost forty pounds in muscle weight, four inches in height and a shoe size. He was happy to hear that the extra exercise would not be continued at the level it had been. His training in his personal magics, proper decorum and languages would start the next day. Though the first thing in the morning they would be doing several tests that would identify not only his different types of magic, but also what rituals would do him good and they would also test his blood and heritage to see if he was heir to more than just the Potter line.

By lunch the next day, Harry was again tired, but he was also excited. He was eagerly awaiting the results of his personal magics and ritual tests. The heritage test was on one hand a surprise but on the other hand, it was a bit of a letdown. He found out that his mother was not really muggle born but that her great-grandmother on one side was a squib and her great great-grandfather on the other side was one as well. The letdown came since he was not related to any majorly famous witch or wizard. He did find out that between his parents he had inherited four other vaults beside the vault he had already visited and between all of them, he was very rich.

Harry watched a small goblin that he had come to know as Mitelauder, walked into the dining hall. He was holding two scrolls with Harry's test results. "Here are your results Stormbrow," His squeaky voice announced. "Stoneater would be VERY upset if you read them without her being present." He gave in a way of warning.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Harry responded with tooth revealing smile. He had learned it was how goblins showed humor, but also it was mild sign of affection and respect.

Harry rushed into kitchen and would have been the target of spoon, pot or pan, but the women were all excited to see Harry's results as much as he was if not more. "Which one first, Ohpaw?" Harry asked using the respectful term for parent.

"The power test first," Stoneater said with an excited growl.

Harry opened the proper scroll and read out.

_**Parseltounge **_

_**Parselmagus**_

_**Mage level with potential Magus or Sorcerer level**_

_**Mage sight**_

_**Animagus – Multi-level, suspect five forms**_

_**Metamorphmagus**_

_**Elemental Sorcerer – Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Shadow, Light, Time and Space with High-level Fire and Shadow**_

Harry looked at the paper with a slight amount of confusion, then disappointment. He looked up from the paper and toward Stoneater and softly said, "That's it."

The stunned looks on the faces of the woman was missed by Harry when Stoneater quickly thumped him on the forehead and said, "That's it…That's it…" She then saw the look on Harry's face and her building fury collapsed. "You really don't understand do you?"

A now completely confused Harry just shook his head silently.

"Okay, let's begin with an explanation and let's start with the top two Parseltounge and Parselmagus." Stoneater said in a comforting voice. "Any time you have to word Mage, Magus or Sorcerer it is a very big thing." She pulled Harry to her and continued. "Humans have a scale of power levels, you have Muggle, Squib, Wizard, Mage, and Magus then the most powerful is Sorcerers. Most magic welding humans are Wizard level with a very few being Mage and even less being Magus or Sorcerer. Dumbledore is either a Mage or Magus."

With a look, she knew Harry now understood at least that part. "Parseltounge is the language of snakes and to a lesser degree other reptiles including dragon, one who can speak parseltounge is a parselmouth, which you are, which means you can talk to snakes and so forth." She paused to make sure Harry understood before continuing.

"There is a field of magic that uses the language of snakes and it called parselmagic," she explained crossing her eyes to show she knew he could have figured that portion out himself. "Mage level can not only cast magic specific for parselmagic, but can also use it to cast stronger versions of other magics as well, Magus level can do that as well and apparently can create spells of even a higher level." She paused and then said, "That is where you are at…or at least what your potential is at."

It was explained that Harry was already at a mage level in power and he was far from fully-grown, he would continue to grow and could easily reach Sorcerer level before finishing his training or school. Stoneater then explained that Mage sight was the ability to see magic and with that through many enchantments and spells. She then said, "Basically it means you can see magic, not just the effects, but the energy used."

It was then explained that Animagus and Metamorphmagus both were similar in that they magic used to change the form of his body. Metamorphmagus changed their appearance so they could look like other people or do things as simple as changing the color of their hair, Animagus though could change forms, becoming an animal or animals. It was explained to Harry that most Animagus either could only assume one form or at least never worked on having more than one.

Stoneater explained that elemental wizards regardless of level could affect, change or create from their element. Wizard level could affect two or three of the basic elements, Mage level controlled all four of the basic elements, while Magus could also affect one or two of the secondary elements and a Sorcerer could affect three or more.

When Harry began asking specific questions about being an Elemental Sorcerer, Stoneater had to put him off, but explained that she did not know the answers and he would learn them as he practiced.

"Now your ritual list," One of the other women asked.

Harry smiled and opened the second scroll and read it aloud.

_**Eye correction **_

_**Eye enhancement**_

_**Memory and Comprehension**_

_**Stone Skin**_

_**Power enhancing**_

_**Power grafting**_

The woman were again stunned not by the list, but by Harry's lack of questions. Finally, Splithook, sister of Griphook asked. "Do you understand the choices and what they do Stormbrow?"

"Yes Splithook, I spent some of the time I had to remain in bed reading about the potential rituals, so I have at least a basic understanding of them all." Harry responded. "If I am allowed I will want to do what rituals we can during the last time compression."

A compressed year later 

Harry was now fully trained in goblin, wizard and muggle decorum, respect and ethics. He was partly trained in Wizarding politics. His training in Gobbledegook was on par with a goblin child just a few years younger than him and it would be at that of an adult in just a couple years. His skills in Latin were slightly better than expected. In Goblin magic, Harry was actually excelling, to the surprise of a few of his teachers, he actually was as skilled as goblin youths a few years older than his self was. He had also learned that Goblins unlike Wizards could draw from the ambient magic around them instead of strictly from their magical core; it surprised everyone when Harry was able to draw power from the energy around him as well.

In his potion classes he was also excelling, both in goblin-based potions and wizard-based. Presently he was equal to a wizard finishing his first year of schooling and a goblin in his second. His weapons training and hand-to-hand training was progressing at close to the expected level, while he was slightly behind in Runes, Warding and Arithmancy.

Now that his lessons in decorum, respect and ethic were ending, Harry was going to be doing more in magical based classes and eventually continuing his muggle classes. He would complete his muggle schooling by the time he was finished with that summers time compressions. Harry was excited to learn to become an animal as well as changing his body to look different, but Sharpmaw explained that he needed a good grounding in the basics before attempting them or his elemental training.

At the end of the first time compression session, Harry had been in training for seven years. He had the equivalent of a muggle high school education. He was a master in Goblin-Fu, Tai Chi, Goblin Potion making, Runes, and Occlumency. He was almost at that level with Arithmancy, Wizard Potion making and Legilimency. He was highly skilled in Kung Fu, Goblin Magic, 2 weapons and the goblin equivalent of Mind magic. He also spoke Gobbledegook and Latin at an appropriate level for a Goblin adult and finally he had a great understanding of Goblin, Wizard and Muggle history.

Harry's appearance had changed as well. His famous scar was no longer as prevalent, it was a thin line now; his messy black hair was now shoulder-length and held back with a hair tie. While he still was still in the body of an 11 year old, that body possessed the muscles and grace that came with his training as far as his body would allow.

Harry was told by both Sharpmaw and Stoneater that as far as they were concerned he was their child and they would formally adopt him once his summer training was complete. They made sure that he understood it was nothing against him, but if they attempted it during training the records could arrive at the Wizard Ministry before he arrived at Gringotts for the first time and that would reveal their plans too early.

Sharpmaw did sneak a Massic pub into Harry's' room. The Massic would grow to the size of a Labrador, but had a forked tongue, the eyes of a great reptile, reptile-like clawed forepaws, and a furry back with a scaled belly. Harry named him Havoc and between the two of them, the name fit. Harry and Havoc were both surprised to find out that they could understand each other by using a variation of Parseltounge. The bond between Massic and Boy was strong and permanent.

Stoneater made a showing of her disapproval by thumping Sharpmaw on the head several times with her favorite ladle. Harry could tell that she was not upset about him having the Massic, even though she claimed it publicly, she was upset that she had not been involved in giving it Harry. Havoc and Harry both received extra portions that night for dinner.

Hedwig even enjoyed riding around on Havoc's back. Havoc enjoyed giving her the rides as well. Both animals took to sleeping in Harry's room, much to Stoneater's annoyance and begrudging acceptance. Havoc slept on Harry's bed at his feet, while Hedwig perched on the headboard.

When the time came for them to transition into another time compression, Harry was excited, this compression would be for the same amount of real time, but would only be for five years. Harry would be starting his Mastery level training in Arithmancy, Wizard Potion making and Legilimency as well as his Mastery in Kung Fu and Goblin Magic. He would also begin studying Giant/Trollish and French. What really had him excited was that he would be studying Animagus, Metamorphmagus and his first two Elements. He expected to have Animagus and Metamorphmagus completed by the time the compression was completed.

Five Compressed Years later

Harry had gained his Mastery of Arithmancy, Wizard Potion making, which would be shown to the wizarding world after his fifth year at Hogwarts, unless something happened. He also had mastered Wizard's Occlumency/Legilimency, Muggle Kung Fu, Karate and Goblin Magic and two additional weapons. Harry had easily mastered Metamorphmagus by the second year and had completed three of his Animagus transformations, Phoenix, Raven and Griffin.

He had been having problems with his shadow cat form. Sharpmaw conjectured that the problem was that it was attached to his Shadow element and he had not worked with that element yet. They had agreed to save the owl form until he was at Hogwarts. The owl form would be 'accidently' revealed to the Transfiguration teacher Professor Minerva McGonagall, who was a registered Animagi and the Transfiguration teacher. That way she could 'help' him and that form would be the only one registered with the Ministry of Magic, though the goblins would have a file listing all of his forms, just in case he ever got in trouble for their use.

Harry also began studying Dark Arts, Defense against Dark Arts, medical and healing magic and magical dueling. Harry had also begun studying both muggle and magical languages. He was continuing to take French and had added Spanish for muggle Languages. He had a basic understanding of Giant/Trollish and he had started learning Mermish in the Magical Languages.

Harry was approaching his twelfth year physically, but was mentally approaching twenty-four. Unfortunately, his emotions were closer to his physical age and the stress of training was beginning to show. Because of this, Blindsight decided that instead of going into the 10:1 compression caverns, they would be skipped. Harry was showing signs of needing a break from training so they went to the 5:1 compression caverns instead. Harry would continue to study what he had chosen and so that he could maintain his physical and magical fitness. In the new compression he would study his expected classes for Hogwarts, do any rituals he wanted to have done and take things at a slower pace.

Unknown to Harry, Stoneater and Sharpmaw both had requested and received several goblin, wizard and muggle games that would be in the chamber waiting for Harry. They were concerned that the time difference would cause him to lose what remained of his childhood and that upset his goblin parents greatly. Several of the other adults were thinking the same thing as Harry's goblin parents and they grew worried. It came to mind that they could help, so they requested that some of their younger children be allowed to share the time compression with Harry.

After a quick meeting between the King, Queen and Blindsight, it was agreed that a number of the goblin children would be allowed into the time compression. Even though goblins rarely allowed their children into time compressions, it was agreed that a compression of a year and a half would not harm any of them.

One compressed year and five months later

A much more relaxed and focused Harry emerged from the time compression. He now had friends and that made a world of difference in his attitude. Harry now had the equivalent of an incoming second year students understanding of Transfigurations and Charms.

He had completed the ritual that corrected his eyesight. He then took the next step and had his sight enhanced, he could see in the dark. Had sharper clarity when around magic and see even greater distances than his Phoenix or crow sight would allow. Harry had also had the memory and comprehension rituals completed. He now had nearly eidetic memory and comprehension. He decided against the stone skin or the power enhancing rituals and Sharpmaw declared it was not yet time for the power grafting ritual.

He had trouble at first learning to use the wand after all the years of doing magic wandlessly. Sharpmaw instructed him to learn the Wizard spells both with and without using a wand so that he gained a better understand of how both worked. Harry decided it would be best to learn the spells without a wand first and then learn with the wand, though that process would have to be reversed once he arrived at Hogwarts. He figured out that the wand could focus and refine the spells, but with enough time, the same level of control and power could be done wandlessly as well.

Sharpmaw did notice that Harry's wand now seemed to pause and occasionally send out a spark or two just before a spell was cast from it, He knew that it was not a good thing. The wand would have to be replaced with an identical copy with a more focused core soon.

Sharpmaw informed Harry that they would be going back in time to June 1st again but this time they would be taking each day at normal speed. Harry knew he had to hide himself from the upper levels of Gringotts until at least after August 2nd so that time realigned properly and he would not chance running into himself or someone that might suspect what was going on. For the first time, Harry was going to be able to see the Goblin community under Gringotts.

Harry created a stir as he followed his 'parents' into the community. He was the first human in several centuries to ever get this far and the only one who walked in the proper position for a goblin child. It was not until Sharpmaw stopped and greeted area Protectorate Chief that they realized what exactly Harry represented.

{Greetings Wildhammer,} Sharpmaw spoke to the goblin that was their equivalent of a sheriff. {May your day be peaceful and your wives' pots filled with meat}. He then turned toward Harry. {This is my soon to be youngling, Stormbrow Deatheyes, we have been training in the time caverns before he joins the wizard younglings at Hogwarts.}

The shock of hearing that Sharpmaw, a respected elder, was in the process of adopting a wizard child was doubled when he was revealed a human had entered the time compression chambers. The shock drew even greater when Harry spoke.

{Greetings Protectorate Chief Wildhammer, I also greet you as my father has, plus I swear to you that while within the community I will endeavor to never cross your path in the performance of you duties.} Harry said with closed lips and slightly bowed head. His words showed that he knew not to parrot what Sharpmaw had said, but only to agree with it and add his own assurances as a stranger to the goblin that he would not cause trouble. His actions and body placement showed that Harry respected Wildhammer's position and his authority, and Harry would never knowingly cross the man.

Wildhammer blinked twice and then responded to Sharpmaw, {Greetings Sharpmaw, you have trained your youngling well.} He then turned to Harry and said {Greetings and welcome young Stormbrow, make sure your Massic does not wonder into the commons too often and never without you.} He then exposed his teeth and said, {And try to dodge your mother's ladle and never anger her to the point she reaches for her Frogra pot.}

All three of the males winched and Stoneater growled.

Wildhammer had greeted Sharpmaw first as was expected to an elder and head of a family; he then greeted Harry as the new male of the group. He gave him a warning against breaking a law, as was expected as a Protectorate and finally gave some personal advice in the form of a joke to show that he accepted Harry and acknowledged Stoneater, even though it was not proper public decorum to speak to another goblin's wife or wives.

{Stormbrow must remain below until the second day of August} Sharpmaw informed Wildhammer. {Though with the amount of enjoyment he had on the carts, I may offer him for cart operator training.}

{He would need the cloak of a trainee, spelled to hide his face.} Wildhammer suggested as he stroked his short beard. He then turned Harry and asked, {You really enjoyed riding in the carts?}

The smile on Harry's face was the answer understood by both human and goblin alike. {Oh, yes!}

Harry spent the next month and a half learning to be a vault cart operator, all the while hiding underneath a spelled cloak to hide his face. He was even paid weekly at the rate of a silver sickle a day, fifteen Knuts of which Stoneater invested for him. The day before his repeated birthday, Harry's world changed once again...


	3. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters. I am not making money off them nor do I intend to do so. I am only borrowing them for a brief time.

A/N "Spoken English", 'Thoughts', {Gobbledegook}

Chapter Two

A well-dressed Harry was led from his goblin parent's home toward a more ornate area of the goblin underworld. He quickly figured that they were either going to see the Lady Seer Blindsight or the King and Queen. He soon found out that he was going to visit both. Harry had found out that the King was named Thunderstick and the queen was named Blastingstorm.

The first stop was goblin throne room. The room was a massive cavern with precious stones embedded in the walls, an ornate carpet led from the only visible door to the opposite side of the room where a multi-step dais was, which held two ornate gold and silver thrones. The room had obviously been cleared and the only people in the room when Harry, Sharpmaw and Stoneater arrived were the king and queen.

The King was tall for a goblin at nearly five feet tall, but he was also rotund. His dark eyes gleamed with delight upon seeing Harry. The Queen was tiny for a goblin at just under three feet tall and she was thin. Her equally dark eyes showed only pride when she spotted Harry.

"Come closer," rumbled the king's gravelly voice.

Harry was gently pushed toward the royal couple by Stoneater. He slowly walked toward them very nervously. When he got within ten feet of the royals, he threw himself down so that he was on his hands and knees with his head bowed. {Your Majesties I am honored to be in your presence} Harry said firmly but quietly and with all honesty. He felt so honored that he was about to cry.

{I have heard that Sharpmaw claims you, as his son of the heart, is that true?} King Thunderstick asked.

{It is sire,} Harry responded. {And he is my father of the heart as well,} He continued.

{I was told that you have some skill in our magic and with the Oglet (three-sided goblin throwing dagger). I do not believe that a Wizard youngling is capable of our magic let alone handling an Oglet without needing a nursemaid.} Thunderstick challenged.

{What would you have me do?} Harry asked, intentionally growing the words.

{Stand and prepare yourself!} The King ordered.

Harry jumped to his feet as quick as he could; the speed surprised the king, as he had never seen a human of any kind move so quickly. He quickly threw the triangle shaped dagger at Harry's head.

Harry reacted by grabbing the Oglet from the air as it approached. He continued moving with the dagger so not to cut himself and allow it the time to slow. It required him to take two steps and turn completely around, but by the end of the turn, Harry was holding the knife in his left hand.

{Return my Oglet!} Thunderstick demanded. He then barely had time to duck as Harry threw the knife back, aiming for the same body part as the King had done before. With a rumbling laugh the King pulled blade from his throne.

Harry knew that the King would want to see his use of goblin magics so he began to draw magic to him. The air around him began to blow with a silent wind, causing his hair to flow in the breeze. Smoky tendrils began to flow around Harry's feet and up his legs as he drew the energy to him. "Dhalkaan Telaan" Harry cast as he threw out his hands toward the right hand wall.

A horizontal column of fire erupted from Harry's hands and rushed toward the wall. The obvious heat was felt in the entire room. It was as noticeable as the magical energies swirling around Harry. At the last moment, Harry made a slashing motion with his hands and the fire simply ceased to exist.

{Well done Stormbrow Deatheyes, son of Sharpmaw Tearstone, you are truly a goblin warrior.} Thunderstick said loudly, the sweat from the heat obvious on his forehead.

Harry clapped his hands together and softly said, "Shuuch" the room's temperature then dropped back to a more comfortable level.

{Well done and thank you} The queen then added softly.

{Stormbrow, tomorrow is the day of your birth and I wish you to have some gifts from me,} Thunderstick began. {I have also heard that your wand no longer works as well as it should, so I am ordering that a replacement focus be created for you, one that will work properly and at least appear still to be you present wand.}

{Thank you sire,} Harry said softly.

{I further order that you will be outfitted with practice weapons and armor to take with to Hogwarts as well as having proper battle field weapons and armor crafted specifically for you.} Thunderstick continued.

{Lastly, I order that from this day on you are indeed Stormbrow Deatheyes, son of Sharpmaw Tearstone in heart, in name and legally as such a goblin warrior in good standing.} The king finished.

{Thank you your majesty,} A teary-eyed Harry acknowledged.

{I also have gifts for you Stormbrow,} Queen Blastingstorm announced.

Harry walked over to her and knelt in front her.

The small woman smiled at Harry as she revealed two wooden boxes. She opened the first revealing at set of armbands. "These are to be worn at all times," She said snapping them around Harry's biceps. She then tapped the left one, "This band is a glamour band. It has five settings, one for each of the five runes. You may choose what each one is later." She then touched the right band. "This is a five point reusable portkey with an emergency feature. The five points can also be set later. The emergency function of the portkey is already active. If you are ever knocked unconscious by spell fire you will automatically be brought to you mother, you can also activate it saying Ohpaw three times."

Blastingstorm then opened the second box and removed two identical bracelets. "These also must be worn at all times." She demanded in English as she locked them onto his wrists. "They are special for only you." She then smiled. "They have four code phrases; _**claws**_,_** protect,**_ _**armor **_and _**release**_, which must be said in gobbledegook."

{_**Claws**_} Harry ordered. He was surprised when the bracelets grew out over his hands and fingers, forming clawed metal gloves. The claws were a muted dark grey almost black in color and extended five inches from his fingertips. With a simple {_**release**_}, the bracelets returned to normal.

{_**Protect**_} Harry intoned and a moment later, the bracelets had reformed into ornate bracers covering from his wrist to almost his elbows.

{_**Armor **_makes the bracelets form into both the claws and the bracers at the same time.} Blastingstorm explained. {They are spelled to protect from any curse or jinks that strikes them, with the exceptions of the unforgivables.}

Harry knew that protection like that did not mean that the whole spell was always blocked, but it did mean that the bracers took at least a portion of the spell effect. That bit of protection would weaken the attack and allow him to survive longer in a fight. They were an excellent gift.

Harry and his family left the throne room with paperwork showing his goblin adoption. He also was given two sets of paperwork relating to his indenture to the Goblin Nation. The first were a copy of the paperwork that the goblins would hold that stated he completed his service while in compressed time and that copy would be recognized by all goblins. The other set were for the Wizarding World and showed that he would be indentured until the summer before his sixth year at Hogwarts. Harry held all three sets of paperwork as if they were made of gold.

It was explained to him that the wizards would have to accept the third set of paperwork as valid. It was a legal form of protection for Harry, because if another wizard harmed Harry in anyway the goblins could act on it by seizing gold, items or property from the offender as payment for Harry being harmed. That idea caused Harry to smile in a very goblin manner.

Blindsight's rooms were more or less what Harry was expecting, they were in smaller cozier caverns with little to catch the eye, but were instead filled with items of great texture and others that gave off small sounds or tiny puffs of scented smoke. Harry and his new parents were immediately shown into Blindsight's private chambers.

"Welcome to my rooms Stormbrow" Blindsight said in English.

"Thank you for having me Lady Seer Blindsight," Harry responded in kind and then added, {May your _**second**_ sight bring you peace and comfort while it brings our enemies fear, and loss of blood and gold}. He intentionally mixed two formal greetings.

The blind seer shook her head and laughed heartily and then responded, {May your enemies tremble in your sight and your gold always flow in abundance.}

Blindsight then wave in the general direction of the chairs she knew that had been placed in her rooms for this meeting, {Please be seated comfortably}.

Once they were seated, she began the reason why Harry had been called to her. "You are already aware that I have made a total of six prophecies relating to you and your life, while a witch has made one similar. You are as of yet unaware of what those prophecies say and that was intended."

The old seer reached into her ornate robes and withdrew a slim book. The book was leather bound in soft light tan and had no title. "This is a written copy of all the prophecies given by myself and what we believe was said in the one given to your soon to be headmaster."

She then opened the book showing him blank pages. "The pages are spelled so that you as the one they are made about can set a password, and then they will only be revealed to you and those you allow."

"It is also spelled so that you may add prophecies to it, be they about you or another it does not matter." She continued after leafing past the first seven pages. "All you must do is to touch an empty page while thinking about what you heard and it will be placed within the book. If you come across an active prophecy that you may want me to look over, just touch it and say my name, a copy will be sent to me and I will be notified."

"If it happens to be taken from you, do not fear as it will return to you within a day." She explained and then handed him the book.

The next morning Harry was woke up by Stoneater, who was gently rocking him from side to side. {Wake up youngling, today is the day of your birth and your rebirth and we have much to do.}

Harry stretched and then smiled. This day had been a good day the first time, when he and Hagrid had gone shopping and now it was going to be even better the second time around. He then surprised the slightly smaller goblin woman by hugging her firmly but gently.

{What does today hold for me, mother of my heart?} Harry asked while holding Stoneater.

{Breakfast, a half day of work in the carts for you, lunch, then your father and the other men plan on gifting you and then drinking themselves under the table.} She explained and then turned to mock sternness, {You may now be seen as man and a warrior, but do not think I will not knock you upside the head with my ladle, if you come home too drunk to walk.}

The threat was small but powerful. No goblin warrior wanted to be struck with a ladle, which was for children and demeaning, especially to a young warrior.

{Then I will drink enough so that I only wobble when I walk} Harry responded with a mischievous smile.

Stoneater growled in mock threat as she withdrew from Harry's continued embrace. {See that you do} She said gruffly.

Harry's morning went quickly, twelve trips in the carts to various vaults. Each time though the goblins that were sent with Harry and the assorted witches and wizards would present him with small tokens. By the time returned to his room, he had his full daily wage, plus seven more silver sickles, a set of training Oglets, a gold galleon, a single battle hardened dirk, four chocolate frogs and three bottomless bags.

Stoneater firmly suggested that Harry invest his birthday money, but she was routed from forcing the issue by Sharpmaw showing her Harry's most recent vault statement. She instead grumbled, {Then spend it wisely son of my heart.}

Sharpmaw drew Harry into the main room and then into a forceful hug. He then looked directly into Harry's eyes and said, {Blessing my son on the day of your birth and rebirth, may your gold flow in abundance.}

{May _**our**_ gold flow as water, blood and wine, father.} Harry responded making sure that the older goblin knew that what was Harry's was the family's as well. He then added, {May our fortunes always be tied together.}

The older goblin tried to hide that he had to wipe a tear from his face as he gruffly said, {Time for presents youngling}, He then drew Harry toward a trunk that looked identical to the one he had purchased and was presently in his room.

{It was decided that you needed more space than your old trunk could provide so we had this one crafted,} Sharpmaw explained. He then waved his hand over the lock. A dial similar to an old rotary phone dial appeared. In the grooves of the dial were the goblin numbers of zero through nine.

{It is a dimensional trunk,} He explained unnecessarily. One is similar to your old trunk except the space is five times as expanded.

He then turned the trunk on its side and dialed two. {This is your portable closet,} He then opened the trunk, revealing a small chest of drawers in the lid and a small closet space in the trunk itself. {There is expanded space for all of your clothing, wizard clothing, muggle clothing and so forth.}

Three was revealed a portable library, which presently was empty with the exception of a book known as the Everybook. That book on command would become any book that Harry had in his library. Four was a portable potions storage closet, able to store most of the potion ingredients required by a wizard or goblin potion master. Five was a portable armory ready to hold his practice weapons and armor.

Sharpmaw paused and then lowered the trunk back into its more common position. {The sixth setting is a small flat with a full potions lab, library and your battle armory. There is space in there for Havoc and it is set up with an owl access point as well.} He then opened the trunk.

All Harry could see was a ladder descending into darkness, but he trusted his father and followed him into the trunk. It revealed to be a small two bedroom flat with a library almost the size of the flat itself, a fully stocked armory and a potions lab with enough space to store ingredients for every conceivable potion Harry could think of and more. When Harry was shown the larders, he was surprised to see that they were filled with several months' worth of meals held under a stasis charm.

{Anything placed in there is placed in stasis. Your mother wanted to make sure you ate properly while at school.} Sharpmaw added with a smile. {You should add your favorite muggle and wizard foods and sweets as well. All you have to do is remove it and it will be either hot or cold, depending on the food.}

Once they returned from the trunk, Sharpmaw shut the lid and said, "No one but you can open the lid if it is shut, even from inside. No one can enter any of the expanded spaces without your approval."

He then turned back to the trunk and dialed seven. A ladder was again all that Harry could see and his confusion was evident on his face.

{It was approved that your trunk would be given a tiny time compression crystal. It gives you 2:1 compression. Chambers seven, eight and nine are in compressed time once the lid shuts.} Sharpmaw explained. {Seven is a nearly identical flat to the one in six, except it does not have the battle armory; instead, it has a practice armory and a larger library.}

{Eight and nine both are accessible either by dialing or through doorways in seven. Eight is divided into two sections; the first is a muggle activity room with all the possible muggle devices used for fun, the second is a training room. The ninth chamber is a large open space with plants, grass and some trees. It would be a good place to relax, do your martial arts and possibly fly, if you end up like doing that.}

{Zero is the one room that I have to train you on its use.} Sharpmaw said softly. {It is the smallest of all the rooms but it holds a portable gate.}

Harry was shocked. Goblins used gates to move heavy or large numbers of items over great distances. It was possible to open a gate though wards, making it possible for a goblin to travel almost anywhere. Portable gates were mostly used in the field to move ore to be refined, move emergency patients or simply to escape attackers. Most gates had another gate on the other end, for stability, but two gates were not required. For him to have a gate was a great honor indeed.

Sharpmaw noticed that Harry was about to lose control of his emotions and decided it was time to move on to the next gift. He got Harry's attention and held out a book bag that was similar to those sold to students. {This is the bag you purchased to carry your books and equipment, I had it modified for your use.}

He then showed Harry that the already enlarged insides were again enlarged even bigger. The bag had a goblin based feather-light charm, anti-tear charm and organizer put on it. He then showed Harry a small almost unnoticeable pouch had been added. {This is a messenger pouch; it is for sending private messages to me, your mother or anyone else. The pouch has a heavy notice-me-not charm on it and can expand to accommodate small or medium sized packages.}

Sharpmaw then uncovered Harry's portkey armband and tapped the first rune. "Portus Maximus". He then turned to Harry and explained. "Touch the rune and it will return you here, even though wizard portkey wards. Later we will set it up so that you can portkey to Diagon Alley, the Village centre, inside your trunk and we will leave the last location up to you. Just remember that it is setup to return you to you last location by pressing the rune again.}

Over the next hour Sharpmaw, Harry and Stoneater created four glamours to be added to his other armband. The first was a goblin youth, which would be Harry's appearance when he was in public with other goblins. The second was one of an adult with brown hair and eyes, without a scar, which would be for Harry to use when he needed to look like someone who was his mental and magical age. The third was an elderly man based on what Harry might look like in seventy years, which would be used when Harry wanted to be overlooked. The fourth took a large amount of magic from all three of them, it was the old weak, frail version of Harry. This glamour he expected to wear or at least have a Metamorphmagus version for at least the next five months while at school, it was designed so that it would slowly morph from his old appearance into his present appearance, so no one would notice the changes.

Stoneater then handed Harry a pair of glasses that resembled his old pair. Harry no longer needed glasses as his eyes had been healed and enhanced, but old Harry required them, they were just frames and clear glass. {During the winter holidays you will be getting contacts} she informed him. {You must wear these so that you readjust to having them on your face.}

That night Harry enjoyed his first time getting drunk on Goblin ale. True to his word, he made sure that he did not get so drunk that he could not wobble home, Of course that next morning Stoneater made sure they remembered it by ordering both Harry and Sharpmaw to go to the forges and collect Harry's practice and battle weapons. The pounding around the different forges continuously reminded both of them that drinking to that level had its own reward and punishment.

Harry left the forge area with a full set of practice weapons, a full set of practice armor as well as a full set of battle weapons and armor. The practice set included six sets of Oglets, three short swords, a Falchion, a battle-axe, a hand axe and a dozen throwing daggers. The practice weapons and armor was specially weighted to be heavier than regular so that they would build muscle and endurance. The armor had been specially spelled so that it looked like a magical set of black clothing when Harry wore them.

Harry gained three sets of battle grade Oglets, two short swords, two Flachions, a battle-axe, a hand axe and over three dozen different throwing daggers, some of which could hold potions, poisons or spells. He also gained two set of goblin armor. One set were designed to look like his practice armor, but it was also infused with shadow energy, which would allow him to fade into the shadows, without having to use magic. The other set of armor was a traditional set of goblin armor, so that when he wore it no one would doubt he was a goblin warrior.

The next day Harry was taken up to the office of Gringotts, where he met a man that reminded him of Mr. Ollivander the wand maker. The man's moon like eyes looked over Harry with such care that it was unnerving. "I am Horatio Ollivander, Mr. Potter...or should I say Stormbrow Deatheyes..."

Harry immediately had his hand on a hidden Oglet, but calmed down when the man said, "Yes I am the younger brother of the Ollivander you have already met, but unlike him I am an employee of Gringotts and as such am bond by goblin secrecy."

"I was told that you now had issues with your wand and needed my help not only finding a better match but making it look as if nothing has changed." The man stated. He then cocked his head to the side and asked, "Is that true?"

Without answering, Harry withdrew his wand and cast a simple 'Wingardium Leviosa' on a goblin statue in the office. Harry's wand caused the statue to rise as was expected, but it also released several multicolored sparks as it did.

"Stop using that wand immediately, it is unstable and may burn out the core." Horatio Ollivander exclaimed in both wonder and fear. He then held out his hand and asked, "May I see the wand please Stormbrow?"

Harry handed the strange man his wand and allowed him to examine it.

"Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple; a most unusual combination," The man mumbled to himself, "It is strange that something this powerful could be overcharged."

"I had several magical blocks when I received it, I no longer do." Harry explained.

"Well that could be the reason right there," Mr. Ollivander exclaimed. "Do you have any special abilities or talents Stormbrow?" He then asked.

"I am a Metamorphmagus, multi-Animagus and an Elementalist." Harry answered truthfully.

Without a word, Mr. Ollivander plucked a single hair from Harry's head and began examining it. Harry winced when the hair was pulled but remained silent.

"What forms do you have?" the strange man asked, never taking his eyes off Harry's hair.

"Phoenix, Raven and Griffin," Harry answered. "I also have an owl and shadow cat but have not changed into them yet."

The wand maker looked at Harry in shock. The idea of having three magical forms was nearly unheard of. "No matter, I should be able to locate a small amount of shadow cat fir that will work." He then asked. "Please change into your Phoenix and Griffin forms; I need to test to see if you could use a feather from each."

Harry threw his arms into the air and transformed into his phoenix. The bird was red and orange, its feathers were tipped in black and green and his eyes were the same emerald color as Harry's own. Harry took to the air with a trill of excitement; He circled the room in a graceful arc and landed on the back of a nearby chair. With a flip of his tail, a single feather was dislodged, slowly floating into the seat of the chair.

Harry then took to the air once again, transforming in mid-air, he landed gracefully with a smile on his face. Harry then shook his head wildly and transformed into his Griffin form. His body was covered in tan fur, with the exception of his eagle-like head, forepaws and wings; they were covered in golden feathers, which each had hint of black. Harry's forepaws were those of an eagle and his eyes retained their green beauty.

Harry clicked his beak in an attempt to tell the wand make to take a feather. When that obviously did not work, he gently fluffed his left wing. It was then that Horatio understood and took the feather. Again, Harry flinched but no sound was heard. With a single flick of his lion tail, He transformed back with a smile. He really enjoyed his animal forms.

Horatio waved his wand over the feathers, Harry's loose hair and Harry's wand, he then wave his wand over Harry and smiled. "I should be able to craft the perfect wand using this wood, its present core, your hair, the new phoenix feather and the griffin feather, without attempting to use another shadow cat's fur." He then looked at Harry with one eye closed. "What process do you use for you wandless and goblin magic?"

"Up until recently I have been learning the spells wandlessly first and then using the wand. Since I am going to be going to Hogwarts next month, I have reversed it and now try with the wand first." Harry explained.

"While that is an idea for keeping skills a secret it also could cause you to develop a reliance on the wand." Horatio said stroking his chin. "A better way would be to have a blank made learn with it and then use your soon to be new wand."

"A blank?" Harry asked slightly confused.

"A wand before it is combined with its core is called a blank." Horatio explained. "It is nothing more than a piece of wood, but if I were to craft it to look exactly like this one, no one would know you were casting wandlessly, unless they knew what to look for."

Harry smiled, "Thank you, I like that idea."

"Well expect your new wand and a matching blank by the end of the week." Horatio said clearly preparing to dismiss Harry. "I will be in touch with Sharpmaw when it is completed."

The next day was the first day Harry was going to be released to look around Diagon alley. It was now the 3rd of August and there was no chance he would run into either his earlier self or anyone that would wonder about him. Stoneater repeated herself several times over how he needed to be cautious, but finally released Harry into her husband's care.

Sharpmaw led Harry to the vault carts and they both got in silently. Harry knew that he was going to visit his family vaults. Sharpmaw and Stoneater both had suggested strongly that there were things in the vaults that Harry would want to have or at least know about before going to Hogwarts. The cart descended toward the oldest of the vaults.

"We are going to each of your vaults from lowest number to highest." Sharpmaw answered Harry's unasked question.

They slowed and soon arrived at vault 276, according to the parchment Sharpmaw handed him, Harry knew that this vault once belonged to his mother's great-great-grandparents the Bishops. Their only daughter was a squib who married a muggle. The only person since then that was magical in the family was his mother Lily and she never had her heritage checked.

Sharpmaw slid his finger down the center of the door. They then heard the massive tumblers unlocking the door. It opened slowly after the last tumbler unlocked. Harry was surprised to see a large pile of Galleons, much bigger than in his school vault. He also noticed several bookcases filled with books. A quick look at Sharpmaw verified that the books were what he wanted Harry to notice.

{Those book were well over a hundred years old when they were placed in here, Stormbrow} Sharpmaw said softly, {That was a hundred and twenty years ago}

Harry realized they were the true treasure in the vault. {Father, can we invest ninety percent of all the gold?}

{What would you do with the remaining ten percent?} Sharpmaw asked.

{Move it to another one of my vaults for other purposes.} Harry answered with a goblin grin.

{Of course, we can}

Later at vault 361, which was previously owned by Harry grandparents, it had an even larger amount of gold. Harry again noticed books that appeared to be even older than the ones in the Bishop vault. Harry asked with a smile, {Is the money in here invested?}

{Some but nowhere near the percentage limit set by old family laws.} Sharpmaw answered.

{What is that percentage?} Harry asked.

{Seventy percent} Sharpmaw responded, {presently it is at twenty instead}

{Please invest the remaining fifty percent,} He then smirked and said, {Our gold must flow freely, so our investments may grow strong.}

Vault 597 was the personal vault of Harry's parents, in it Harry found several surprises, not all of them good. The vault was huge for a personal vault and Harry found out why, not only was it filled with a large amount of gold, but it also held a moderate sized library of books, assorted Nic-knacks from his parents home and three wizarding paintings and a large amount of loose paperwork.

Harry chose to invest only thirty percent of this vault's gold. The books in the library spanned a wide spectrum of ages, most were moderately old, with only a few antique and more modern tomes. Two of the three wizard painting were individual portraits of his parents, Lilly and James who appeared to be asleep, the third was empty painting with only a table and two chairs in it. Harry assumed it was tied to the other paintings so they could be in the same location at the same time. He decide that they would go into his trunk before he left for school.

{Father, I want the paintings placed in the trunk and can we have all the books moved into my trunk libraries?} Harry asked.

With a goblin smile Sharpmaw replied, {Had already planned on it, also planned on getting you several goblin books, similar to what you have already studied and running up a large tab at Flourish and Blotts.}

The greatest and worst shocks came while Harry was going through the loose paperwork.

Firstly, Harry found that he now owned several properties, some of which had House Elves as workers. Harry was not sure how he felt about that. Sharpmaw had explained that the small creatures' magic was bound to whatever wizarding family they bound to for life. If the creatures were not bound to a family or in some case a magical location, their magic would kill them. He did not like the idea of having other lives bound to his own, since he realized the possibility of a master abusing them, but he planned to make the lives of those that were to him and his future family as happy as possible.

Secondly, Harry found his parents Wills. His temper rose as he read the document. In it were listed several people that he should have gone to when his parents died. Harry listed the people as his anger grew:

_**Sirius Black**_ – Godfather

_**Alice and Frank Longbottom**_ – Godmother and her husband

_**Remus Lupin**_ – Family friend

{I NEVER SHOULD HAVE GONE TO THOSE MONSTERS!} Harry bellowed.

Sharpmaw drew his adopted son into a tight embrace. {There is much you do not understand Stormbrow,} he said softly.

{The wizards locked up Mr. Black as the one who acted as a traitor by revealing your parents to Voldemort and killed several muggles} Sharpmaw began to explain. {There is something not right about how they did it though, he was never given a trial or even questioned.}

{Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom were attacked within days of you and your parents. They were tortured and now reside in long-term care in the wizard hospital, Saint Mungo's} He continued to explain.

{Mr. Lupin is registered as a werewolf and due to laws enacted days before you parents death is no longer legally able to care for an infant.} He growled out.

{Since none of the people listed in that Will were able to care for you, Dumbledore had himself declared your magical guardian and he placed you with the last of you blood relatives.} Sharpmaw continued.

{So then why did he not check on me over the years?} Harry asked rhetorically. {As far as I am concerned, he is just as responsible for my abuse as the Dursleys.}

Sharpmaw find no fault in Harry's words or feelings. He then chose to change the subject, in the hopes of changing Harry's focus. {You know with the number of books your libraries will have when we combine all of them, you may only have time enough to put the crates of books in the libraries before you head off to Hogwarts.}

"That will take me months to get the libraries organized!" Harry groused in English.

"Did you really think we were going to send you there so that your brain could rot and all the training you have completed would be lost?" Sharpmaw said looking at Harry as if he had lost his mind. "You will be given a goblin made time turner, so you can repeat up to a week at a time. Spend most of the time getting your compressed time library organized since it is the largest, work on your regular time library as you can and if it takes all year to get your portable library organized that is fine."

Harry spent the next three hours in Flourish and Blotts buying two or three copies of any book that interested him, plus copies of all seven years of Hogwarts core books for Charms, Transfiguration, Astronomy and Potions. He then spent another two hours buying muggle clothing.

Over the next two weeks, Harry had received his wands. The new multi-core wand worked and felt even better than the original. He even liked the look of the blank wand. His books were delivered from the vaults and he received a large collection of Goblin books.

Harry spent his days dividing his time between his friends, buying and storing large amounts of muggle and wizarding foods and sweets in his trunk's larders, working as a cart driver and organizing the regular time portions of his new trunk. Harry decided that his pet Massic pup, Havoc would remain in the regular time flat in the trunk. His nights before bed were spent with his goblin parents, enjoying the shrinking time they had together before he went to Hogwarts.

Each night Sharpmaw, Stoneater and Harry divided their time working on his ability to hide his true level of ability, misdirecting any appearance of not being a typical muggle-raised first year. They even worked on Harry either being able to use his glamour armband to appear as his weaker self or doing the same with his Metamorphmagus abilities.

Sharpmaw took the time to show Harry how to use the portable gate in his trunk. The gate worked best when connected to another gate on the other end, but could teleport to locations that did not have a gate, by using five times the normal energy output. Sharpmaw let Harry know that he should use it without another gate on the other end only in an emergency.

Harry hated lying but understood the need. When not working on his ability to hide in plain sight they discussed the possible meanings of the two comparable prophecies.

_"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."_

This apparently had been given to the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore, and the similar one was,

"_The child destroyer of darkness approaches...Born to those that follow the fading light and have defied the darkness three times, born as Narhtle (July) ceases...Marked on the brow with a storm, he shall posses that which neither the darkness or the light understand...The One must destroy the other for neither may flourish while the other survives...Touched by true darkness Stormbrow can prevail as long as he is not bound by the light... _

This one had been given by the goblin Lady Seer Blindsight.

Neither prophecy was new information for Harry as he had been told them during his first time compression. He did not like the idea of having to do the work other people were either scared to do or did not have the knowledge to complete. He had come to the understanding that he should expect Dumbledore and to a lesser degree the Wizard Ministry to try and manipulate him, but he and the goblins had already began doing things that would secretly strip them of any power over Harry.

{How am I supposed to be the equal to a madman that if over fifty years older than me?} Harry finally asked one night.

{Stormbrow, you were his equal in raw power when you were a baby, that much is clear since you survived.} Stoneater calmly explained. {We now must get you equal to or greater than him in knowledge and skills.}

He presently had almost fourteen extra years of magical experience than he should have had at age eleven. The time compressions had only aged him nine months, due to repeating the last three months three times.

By the end of his first year at Hogwarts, he would have gained a total of nineteen years and aged almost two years beyond his natural age. He had to laugh when he calculated that by the time he completed Hogwarts, he would seventeen according to the Wizards but physically he would be between twenty-eight and thirty. He considered that he would have to wear a glamour or use his metamorphmagus abilities to hid such a major difference. Nevertheless, the knowledge that between one hundred forty and two hundred and twenty years of training would give him would be worth it to him.

Harry and Sharpmaw agreed that it appeared as if Dumbledore had misinterpreted at least part of the one he was given. They further agreed that he would have to be watched closely for attempts at manipulating Harry. Stoneater just sat on her stool growling as she knitted, it was obvious that she did not like the idea that prophecy was directing Harry/Stormbrow's life and she did not trust Dumbledore, but she remained silent as she had to complete the blanket, hat and scarf set she was creating for Harry, before he went to school.

Harry hugged Stoneater gently before heading to his room to spend the night in 2:1 time compression in his trunk.

A week later, Harry was dressed in a tan goblin made tunic, blue jeans and combat boots. He had been given the time turner and its use had been explained. It was around his neck as a necklace. Unlike the time turners of Wizards, the goblin kind could be adjusted to repeat hours, days or even weeks. Havoc was presently residing in the regular time flat in Harry's trunk, sulking. Hedwig was in her cage and not happy about it. Harry was nervous, apprehensive but also excited to be going to Hogwarts.


	4. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters. I am not making money off of them nor do I intend to do so. I am only borrowing them for a brief time.

A/N "Spoken English", 'Thoughts', {Gobbledegook}

Chapter Three

Harry was taken to King's Cross Station by his goblin parents, all three of them hiding their true forms and natures. Sharpmaw and Stoneater were using goblin glamours to appear as a wizard and witch. Harry on the other hand was using his Metamorphmagus abilities to appear as his weak and frail former self. He had decided to use the glamour charm in his armband only while in class and while he slept, so it would remain stable and he would not have to divide his concentration.

They were surprised as they neared the barrier between the muggle station and platform 9¾ to hear a red-headed woman with several children loudly talking about 'muggles', the platform itself, asking her children what the platform number was and apparently looking around for someone. Harry and Stoneater both correctly assumed it was Harry that she was looking for and they decided it would be best if he avoided the woman until he could find out what her plans were.

Sharpmaw on the other hand had figured out that the woman had been assigned by Dumbledore to direct Harry onto the platform, with the intentions of having Harry focus on her and her family for some kind of support or even a surrogate family. The three did not like the manipulation aspect of the situation but could understand, at least in part, both Dumbledore's and this woman's reasoning for the act. It would draw an unsuspecting preteen in need of affection and attention.

Without drawing attention to themselves, Harry and his goblin parents slipped though the barrier and onto the platform. The first thing that Harry noticed when they passed through the barrier was the scarlet engine of the Hogwarts express. He looked at it though his normal eyes then used his mage sight and finally his enhanced sight. The momentary flash of completely emerald eyes was not noticed by the people milling around him.

The information he received was interesting to say the least. While the engine appeared to be an old turn of the century steam engine, it was actually ran by a magical core similar to the core in wands, the smoke and other steam engine noises and effects were purely for esthetic reasons. The train itself was charmed to expand or contract as needed, so it would accommodate the number of students onboard. There was the typical muggle repelling, notice-me-not charms directed toward the unsuspecting smuggles and a basic shield protecting it from attacks and wreaking. Overall Harry was impressed with the spells used, though he could see room for improvement.

Harry hugged both his adopted parents and whispered that he would talk to them tomorrow. He then took his trunk in one hand and Hedwig's cage in the other and set off to find an empty compartment. If anyone had noticed they would have been shocked that a short, scrawny eleven year old was able to lift a trunk at all, least of all with one hand.

Within minutes, he had found an empty compartment in the last car of the train, right next to the luggage compartment. Harry put his trunk on the floor, opened it to his portable library and withdrew his Everybook. He then shut the trunk and put it in the storage area under his seat. Hedwig's cage was placed in the seat beside him. Harry then withdrew three owl treats and began feeding them to her, allowing her to eat at her own speed, while he was petting her.

The owl was reveling in the attention her master was giving her. Even with Havoc his Massic, Hedwig had a special place in his heart and they both knew it. It was a common sight to see the half grown Massic pup at Harry's feet and Hedwig above Harry's head as they all slept.

Harry opened his Everybook and paged to the contents page. It showed a complete list of all the books that Harry owned. When Harry found the book on goblin battle magic that he had been reading, he tapped the title and waited. Within seconds of him tapping the title, the book began to morph and change. When it was finished, the book was an exact copy of the book requested. The magic would remain active as long as the book was open or had something inside it to hold a page, like a simple muggle bookmark was enough.

Anyone that attempted to read the book would be unable, not due to spells on the Everybook but due to the fact that it was written in Gobbledegook. The few wizards that ever learned to speak the language never saw fit to learn to read it, unless they worked for the bank itself.

Harry slipped into a light meditative state that allowed him to focus on the book, and in doing so allowed him to learn faster, more clearly and be able to retain information quicker. He was mildly surprised when the compartment door opened. A slightly chubby boy with mousy brown hair and who looked like he was about to cry stuck his head in the door and tried to ask, "H..Have...ya...you...happ...happen to see a toad?"

Harry felt sorry for the upset boy and smiled gently. "Hey there, come have a seat real quick and try to calm down, you will never be able to find it if you are all upset."

The boy gave a slight smile and blushed, with Harry's non-verbal encouragement he sat down in the seats directly across from Harry. "I'm Neville Longbottom and the toads name is Trevor."

"Well I am really glad to meet you Neville, apparently our parents were friends and you mother was supposed to be my godmother, that makes us godbrothers or something like that." Harry responded and then smiled extending his hand. "I am Harry Potter."

Neville was stunned at the meeting and was blushing and stuttering even more than usual, but if he failed to realize that now he was not worried about his presently lost toad and more concerned what Harry thought of him instead. The distraction was Harry's idea, even without being met as the cause.

Harry on the other hand was a person of action and instead of trying to sit there and talk, got up, pulled out his trunk and opened the storage portion of his trunk. With a slight flick of his wrist, Harry conjured a small glass tank with an escape ward, which would not only hold Neville's toad in comfort, but prevent any further escape attempts.

Harry pulled the tank out of the dark confines of his trunk and handed it to Neville. "Here this will hold him, when we find him." When He noticed Neville's look of shock and the approaching refusal, he then added a small lie. "I bought it when I was considering getting a snake. I haven't yet and you can use it until then." The lie was that he had bought it, in truth, he had considered getting a snake for something to talk to, but that was before he was given Havoc. He never intended to ask for the tank back.

Without another word, Harry stalked out into the corridor and began pulling energy for the ambient magic around them. The ambient energy would not drain his own core and would allow him to retrieve the correct pet without problem. It would have been harder if the train was moving, but since it was not, he could even pull energy from the platform itself, if need be.

"Has'rack Knoll", Neville heard Harry whisper. He was shocked to see colorful vapors of magic wrapping themselves around Harry ankles and feet.

Within seconds, a very perturbed looking toad appeared, floating down the corridor, barely missing an older student's head as he passed. The toad gave a frustrated croak as it flew. When he was within reach, Harry snatched the toad out of the air and returned to the compartment. He then gently dropped Trevor into the tank and sat down. The magic returning from where it had been drawn without a sound.

Just as Harry sat down a girl with bushy brown hair and a decidedly focused appearance opened the door and asked, "Any luck Neville?"

Neville blushed and softly said, "Yeah Hermione, Harry just got him back for me." He then lifted the small tank slightly to show her.

"Harry?" the girl named Hermione asked, "Harry Potter?"

Harry nodded, not really knowing how to respond to the girl.

"Hermione Granger," She said introducing herself, "I have read all about you of course."

"You shouldn't believe anything those books say about me, at best they are educated guesses and at worst bad fantasy fiction." Harry responded.

"But..." Hermione began.

"Think about it, only four people were there that night, Voldemort, my parents and myself, remember that I was just over a year old." Harry began to explain while trying not to roll his eyes at Neville flinching when he said Voldemort. "Of those four, I am the only one that appears to have survived enough to give any interviews. I didn't have the verbal skills then or the memories now of what happened to give an interview, so it is conjecture at best, outright lies at worst."

"I have read the material printed on me," Harry continued, "And the closet that I found to what I know about my own life is Gowles 'Book of Notable Witches and Wizard of the Common Age', which states that I no one really knows what happened other than I survived an 'Apparent' blast from the Avada Kedavra curse, being left with a lightning shaped scar similar to the Rune Sowilo. Since that time Mr. Potter has been living with relatives and it is conjectured that they happen to be his mother's family."

Hermione considered his words carefully for a moment and then nodded in agreement. She then sat down After another moment she notice the book he had and asked what the book was that Harry was reading. It was obvious by the look in her eyes she also wanted to read it, if she could.

Harry smiled and answered, "It is a treatise on goblin battle magics and tactics."

A confused Neville remained silent and Hermione responded, "It must be fascinating?"

"It is," Harry responded. "Have a look," he added with a mischievous glint in his eyes. He then turned the book so she could see it properly.

Hermione was anxious to read about the magic of goblins. When she saw that it was in some kind of foreign language she deflated sadly. "What Language is that?"

"Gobbledegook, which is the language of the goblins," Harry responded.

"You can read that?" Neville asked, now very interested.

"Sure, read, speak and understand it, as well as Giant/Trollish, Latin, French and some Mermish and Spanish." Harry announced and then slapped his forehead. "I wasn't supposed to reveal that."

"We won't tell anyone," Hermione responded, while Neville nodded in agreement.

"Not even the teachers or the headmaster?" Harry asked.

Neville responded, "I won't" but Hermione paused. "Well it is not really important or dangerous, so… no, I won't either," She finally agreed.

After a few minutes, Harry returned his trunk to the space under his seat. He then began enjoying the gentle conversation that was going on with the other two. They each had told a small amount about their individual lives. Just as the train finally began to move, the door opened again and a redheaded boy with a slight smudge of soot on his nose leaned in and asked. "Mind if I sit in here, everywhere else is full."

Harry looked at the boy and softly said, "The train adds cars as needed so that is not totally true. You can stay but I would prefer you not lie again and tell us the truth."

"My name is Ron, Ron Weasley and I was told to try and make friends with Harry Potter." The boy responded, his face turning deep red with a blush of embarrassment.

"Who told you to that?" Hermione asked

"Professor Dumbledore asked my mom and family to try and help Harry onto the platform, since the gameskeeper Hagrid forgot to do it." Ron admitted. "Mom suggested that I try and make friends though."

"Did the Headmaster offer you money or anything to be my friend?" Harry asked.

Ron's face turned from embarrassment to anger and he hotly replied, "We maybe poor but we would never take money or anything to be someone's friend."

Harry then shocked Ron by smiling and holding out his hand, "Good, I would never want to be friends with someone that had to be paid to do it," He then laughed slightly and said, "I am Harry Potter."

Ron was now confused, but decided that his momentary flash of anger proved his point to Harry and that was a good thing.

"This is Hermione Granger who apparently is a muggle-born and this is Neville Longbottom scion of the Longbottom family." Harry introduced, repeating the information he had been given in their short conversation.

Hermione looked at Harry and interjected, "I am a muggle-born, my parents are dentists."

"There is a good chance that you are actually the first magical offspring of a squib line," Harry informed her. "There was a Potions master near the turn of this century by the name of Tobias Granger, a pure-blood, so it is possible that one or both of your parents come from a squib family and are not muggles."

Harry then smiled and said, "I would suggest that you and possibly your parents go to Gringotts during the Christmas holidays and have a heritage test done, contact Sharpmaw about it." He suggested using his adopted father so that the price would be reasonable and private. He would contact him to make sure that Hermione followed though with the idea.

Ron had sat down on the other side of Hedwig's cage and pulled a scraggly rat from his pockets. "This is Scabbers by the way. I got him when my older brother Percy made prefect."

Harry focused on the rat and he felt something was off about the rat, but decided it looked ill so that must have been the reason. Ron seeing Harry's look added, "Pathetic isn't he?"

"Just a bit," Harry agreed.

The tension was broken when everyone laughed. Harry decided that he wanted to be friends at that moment.

"What house do you think you will be in?" Ron asked suddenly.

"Well," Hermione began, "I want to be in Gryffindor, professor Dumbledore is said to have been in Gryffindor, but Ravenclaw seems nice too."

"My family expects me to be in Gryffindor, like my parents," Neville said somewhat sadly, "But I will probably end up in Hufflepuff."

"I am going to be in Gryffindor with my brothers, the whole family has been in there for generations." Ron said proudly.

Harry smiled and said, "I probably will be in Gryffindor as well, since my parents were in it, but if not Ravenclaw is okay as well."

Ron looked shocked that Harry Potter the Boy-That-Lived even considered another house as well as Gryffindor. "You got to be in Gryffindor mate," Ron almost whispered.

"Well I love to read and learn about the same as I am brave," Harry admitted. In the time compression he had found that he actually enjoyed learning new and different things. "Of course I am sure that EVERYBODY expects me to be in Gryffindor."

About thirty minutes later the door opened up again and Harry came face to face with the blond boy he had seen that day in Madam Melkin's robe shop, followed by two larger boys. Harry had done the research on the boy and found that he did not like the information that was revealed.

"I was told that Harry Potter is in this car," the boy said with a condensing voice. "Are you him?" He asked Harry.

"I am," Harry responded neutrally.

"I am Draco, Draco Malfoy," He introduced himself, and then looked at his companions and said, "This is Crabbe and Goyle." He then extended his hand to Harry.

Ron stifled a snicker and the small amount of noise either went unheard or ignored by everyone else.

"You will find that some Wizarding families are better than others, I can help you there." Malfoy said looking directly at Ron.

Harry took Malfoy's hand and gripped it moderately tight as he said," Draco Malfoy, scion of the Malfoy family, Father Lucious Malfoy, Mother Narcissa Black-Malfoy. Narcissa is the cousin of Sirius Black and niece of Dorea Black-Potter my grandmother. Your father was accused of being one of Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters but claimed to be under the Imperious curse." Harry then added, "Let's hope that you do not travel the same path as your father.

Draco was shocked that Harry Potter had so much information on him and his family. He did not know how to respond to the last portion of the verbal report, so he attempted to pull away. Harry held his hand and tightened his grip slow, until it hurt the other boy, silently letting him know that he could hurt him if he wanted.

Harry then released Malfoy's hand and tried to hide a smirk as the embarrassed boy made a quick and silent retreat for the car. Once Harry was sure the other boy had left the area he broke into a hearty laugh.

"Bloody Hell, that was great," Ron exclaimed.

~o0o~

Hours later, the train slowed as it approached Hogsmead Village station. Harry and his new friends gathered around Hagrid as he called all the other first years to him. Harry and Hagrid greeted each other in a friendly manner that surprised several of the older students as well as impressed a number of the first years. Ron got smacked on the back of the head by Hermione when he said, "Bloody Hell," When he spotted the large man.

Sharpmaw had explained the boat ride and the sorting to Harry so it was not surprising when they took the boats to the castle. Harry was impressed by the castle itself glowing in the darkness as they crossed the black lake in the tiny boats. He was equally impressed when the first years met Professor McGonagall. The strict looking woman demanded respect with a simple look.

When they finally entered the Great Hall, Hermione made a comment about the ceiling and reading about it in Hogwarts: a History. He decided to allow her to read the other revisions of that book he had. It would open her eyes on how author's perceptions could be radically different and jaded, evolving over the years and decades.

The sorting hat was more or less as expected; Harry had underestimated Sharpmaw's description and was shocked how accurate he was about the tattered hat's condition. Harry amused himself by looking around the room as the hat sang a song that referred to its job and the different houses. Harry suspected that Dumbledore had 'encouraged' the hat to place him in a specific house; he would soon verify that information.

Hermione and Neville both ended up in Gryffindor as he expected. Finally it was his turn, slowly in a way that made him appear to be shy and possibly frightened Harry sat down on the stool. When the hat was placed on his head he was ready.

"_Hello Mr. Hat" _Harry began projecting his thoughts to the hat silently, _How are you tonight?"_

"_I am well Mr. Potter," _The hat responded mildly surprised that Harry spoke before it could, It then loudly gasped. _"My you are a sneaky one."_

The hat then began, _"I find myself surprised that you even came to Hogwarts with all your training."_

"_It is expected of me to be here and at least appear to be following the path the Dumbledore has set out for me,"_ Harry explained. He already knew that the hat could not reveal any of the conversations it had during the sorting.

"_True and if you had not shown up, I am sure Dumbledore would have searched the earth until he found you and had you come regardless."_ The hat agreed.

"_My wizard magic training is incomplete so I will spend most of my time here working on that." _Harry added.

"_Of that I have no doubt," _The hat agreed. _"Make time to visit the kitchens and the elves, they have much they can teach you."_ It then transmitted how to get to the kitchen from the Great Hall and how to enter the kitchens directly into Harry's mind.

"_So where does he want you to put me?" _Harry asked.

"_Well he wants you in Gryffindor but your mind would do better in Ravenclaw," _The Hat admitted. "_But you have that marvelous trunk and can spend extra time reading, researching and of course doing your homework."_ It then paused. _"Where do you want to be placed?"_

"_Better make the old man happy, I am afraid." _ Harry responded.

The hat then responded verbally, "Well if your sure, BETTER BE GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry took the hat off and then turned and bowed respectfully to it. His actions surprised everyone. He then walked toward the Gryffindor table with a large smile. He rolled his eyes as Ron's older twin brothers sang "WE GOT POTTER," and danced around.

While eating Harry felt three different mental probes touch his Occulomancy shields. The first was obviously from Dumbledore, it was a soft feather-light touch. Harry had just let the Headmaster into a specially created 'safe' portion of his mind which had memories of the train ride as well as meeting his new friends. It was while Dumbledore was rummaging around though that portion of his mind when the other two were felt. Since Harry had already allowed Dumbledore into a small portion of his mind, he had no choice in letting the others in as well.

The second probe was cold and without his mental protections could have sliced into the deepest regions of his mind with precision. The third for lack of a better term felt greasy and oily. Harry looked at the head table attempting to locate the other probe senders. Within seconds he found the oily probe belonged to the Potions Master Snape, but just as he was about to identify the other it stopped. Harry realized that the cold probe found his inner barrier and did not want to reveal itself too soon, so it withdrew.

While he was entertaining his three mental visitors in the small protected portion of his mind, Harry was also listening to his excited friends and new housemates. While also considering if it would be smart to allow Ron, Neville and Hermione to know at least some of his secrets. All the while his mind was subconsciously reinforcing his real mental barriers, tricks and traps.

Moments later the probe of Dumbledore left as well as the probe from the Potions Master. Harry then focused more of his mental energy on shoring up his defenses, missing most of Dumbledore's after dinner speech until the old man said, "Third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harry immediately knew where the expected test from Dumbledore was located, that the old man was setting him up and those words would actually have the opposite effect on certain older members of the student body. Harry was now sure that Dumbledore was crazy.

~o0o~

That night Harry pulled his book bag from his trunk, loaded it with all the books required for his classes, plus a copy of his Everybook. He then began writing a note to Sharpmaw and Stoneater.

_Dear Mother and Father,_

_ As we suspected the red headed woman was sent by Dumbledore. Apparently it was to try and help me get through the barrier. He also encouraged the woman's son who is in my year to try and make friends with me. I tested him to make sure that it was not for pay or other reasons. He is now one of my three friends._

_The boy's name is Ronald "Ron" Weasley, the youngest son and next to the youngest of Author and Molly Weasley. I am sure we don't need to check their vault for unusual payments. _**Though he knew they would**.

_Neville Longbottom is now developing a friendship with me and we both hope to connect as godbrothers. _

_The last person is a purported muggle-born named Hermione Granger. I do not think anything negative about her at all, I just have a feeling about her heritage. Toward that end I encouraged her to see you Father for a test during the winter holidays. _

_Oh, as suspected the headmaster encouraged the hat in my house placement, I am now in Gryffindor, which is not a problem as all three of my new friends are there as well. He also warned everyone to stay away from the third floor corridor unless we want to 'die a most painful death'._

_What are your thoughts on me at least revealing certain portions of my trunk and training to my friends? For example, I am sure Hermione would love to be able to continue her muggle education as well as the magical._

_Your Son,_

_Stormbrow_

Once he was finished with the letter he folded it and then placed it in the messenger pouch of his book bag. He knew his parents would receive it within seconds and would probably respond the next morning. With everything done, Harry released his metamorphic form, activated his armband glamour and then went to bed. He quickly fell into a comfortable sleep.

~o0o~

Four o'clock in the morning came early for Harry, While he was used to getting up at five, four was just a bit early. As quietly as possible he withdrew the time turner from his trunk. Unlike the Wizard time turners which resembled a stylized hourglass, the goblin version was the face of a clock with moveable hands. The time turner kept perfect time. If the hands were moved counter clockwise and then the small steam was pulled out, the time function began.

Harry quietly walked into the dorm bathroom and set the time turner to take him back to midnight. He then returned to the dorm room as silently as his training would allow him. With a short pause to watch his past sleeping form, Harry moved to his trunk and prepared.

Harry dialed his trunk to open the non-compressed flat. He had a little over seven hours before he was expected to wake up and prepare for his first day of classes, he planned to have a very busy schedule.

_**Harry's Early Schedule:**_

Midnight to 2am – Exercise and Martial arts

2am - 3am – Shower and Early breakfast

3am - 5am

Mondays Potions

Tuesdays Transfiguration and Animagus

Wednesdays Charms and Runes

Thursdays Battle Strategy and Ethics

Fridays Defense

Saturdays Dark Arts and Arithmancy

Sundays Self Study

5am – 7:15am – Occulomancy and Rest

7:15am – 7:20am Get out of trunk

Once Harry had finished his early morning work and had a refreshing nap, Harry decided that is was a good time to exercise again, so he took a leisurely run around the black lake. By the time he had returned Ron and Neville were both awake and wondering where Harry had disappeared.

"I jog at least five miles every morning," Harry explained.

"Why?" Ron asked, almost whining.

"Exercise helps make your body stronger and with a stronger body you help your magic get and stay strong as well," Harry explained.

Neville's face showed that he was considering what Harry was saying and then finally he softly asked, "Can I join you tomorrow?" 

Harry smiled at the slightly pudgy boy and said, "Sure, do you have trainers and some shorts?"

Neville nodded and said that he usually slept in them though. He then showed them to Harry with a blush. The shorts were a good quality and would make a good pair for him to run in. "You might owl your grandmother and ask for another pair to sleep in and possible get another pair as well as these to exercise in." Harry offered.

"You also need to understand that I have been running a long time and you will probably have to stop well be before I do," Harry explained. "That is okay, just try to go a little further each day and eventually you will be able to keep up with me."

Ron looked at both Harry and Neville as if he could not understand the idea of exercise at all. He was so shocked at Harry's actions that he followed him into the shower room. When Harry realized what Ron was doing he began laughing and asked, "Are you going to help with my back, Ron?"

Ron finally realized where he was, blushed and stammered an apology while backing away, his face glowing brighter red than his hair. Harry just laughed good naturedly and took his second shower of the day.

Breakfast in the Great hall was pure organized chaos. Harry watched the spectacle from just outside the doors for a moment. The heads of each house where handing out class schedules. Each house table had its own special dynamic and way of doing things.

Hufflepuff had the Herbology teacher as a head and the ever smiling Professor Sprout was happily chatting with her students as they came to get their schedules. Ravenclaw was headed by the diminutive quarter goblin, Charms teacher, Professor Flitwick. He was also chatting with his students, but Harry could tell that he was discussing a charm or some spell that had his students' attention. Slytherin house was headed by the potions master and teacher, Severus Snape. The greasy haired man simply handed the schedules to his house prefects and walked away, they were expect to hand them out to the proper student without his oversight. Gryffindor was headed by the severe looking transfiguration teacher Professor McGonagall. She was walking the area around the Gryffindor table handing out the schedules to every student. She would pause momentarily to speak to each student, but was not overly friendly or talkative.

When Harry, Ron, Neville and the recently added Hermione were handed their schedules, Ron let out a loud moan. Harry quickly read his schedule to see what could possibly cause his friend to react like that. He immediately saw the problem, they had both transfigurations and potions that day and both were with the Slytherins. Harry knew that both houses seemed to have a mutual animosity toward each other and in a potions setting that could spell disaster.

"First day and we got the hardest classes and on top of that we have them with those…those snakes!" Ron sputtered in anger.

"Really Ron, it is not going to be that bad," Hermione said, though anyone who noticed could tell she did not fully believe that herself.

Transfiguration class was interesting for Harry, for about five minutes. That was the length of time it took Professor McGonagall to explain the difficulty of the class and how she would not stand for anyone acting out in her class. Then she handed out matchsticks and told them to read the first chapter in their book and attempt to transfigure the match into a needle. Harry finished that within seconds, repeating the process several times, each time making the needle more ornate.

When the Professor noticed, she told him to read about changing it back. Instead Harry waved his wand and transfigured them back in mass.

"Fifty points for reading ahead, knowing the material and performing the required spell, its counter and expanding on it, Mr. Potter," The severe witch said with a thin lipped smile. "Please continue to read ahead silently."

"Yes Professor," Harry said with slight smile. He then withdrew his Everybook from his book bag. He then noticed that the messenger pouch had something inside. He found not only a letter from Sharpmaw but a small package from Stoneater. Slipping the letter into his Everybook, Harry began to read the letter instead.

_My Son,_

_It is good that you are gaining friends and potential allies. You were correct that the Weasley's are an honorable family. One of their older sons works for the bank as curse breaker in our Egypt offices and is very talented._

_Your Miss Granger will be getting a notice from us either later today or tomorrow in the owl post. If she is indeed related to any of the Grangers in our world, she and her family would very well off financially._

_As you are an adult in our realm, I will not tell you if you should or should not tell your friends some of your secrets, but if you do make sure to use very binding magical oath. I would also remind you to use magical oaths to help yourself with others that you might come across._

_As we expected Dumbledore is going to try and manipulate you and your situation to his benefit, do what you can to not allow this to happen, but also remember to have your true skills remain in the shadows, until they are needed._

_Your mother sent a care package with several sweets and bones for Havoc. It is shrunk our way._

_See you this evening._

_Your father,_

_Sharpmaw_

Harry wrote a quick note back to his parents and placed it in his book bag to be sent. He then called up a treatise on battles and duals using transfiguration. He figured that if the Professor came to check on what he was reading it was a good idea to at least be reading about her subject.

~o0o~

Heading to his next class Harry restrained himself from sighing as he entered the dungeons for his first potion class, 'Could they be any more cliché ?', He thought to himself, 'A potions class taught in a dungeon by a man that looks and acts like a human bat'. He just shook his head, walked into the classroom, and quickly found a seat on the side of the room his housemates gathered.

Within minutes of Professor Snape stalking into the room, slamming the door open loudly. Harry instantly knew there was going to be trouble. He was proven correct as the man went through his roll call. Every Gryffindor on his list was subject to some form of verbal nastiness, while the Slytherins received a look of approval. It stopped when Snape came to his name and said, "Harry Potter. Our new – _celebrity_."

Harry ignored the snickers from the Slytherin side of the room as he nodded respectfully and softly said, "Here, sir"

"What would I get if I added powered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Snape asked with a sneer. He ignored the hand of Hermione flying into the air in her hope to answer the question.

Harry fought a smile, that was a third year potion and a first year would not normally know the answer, the man was testing him, probably in hopes of taking points. With a gleam of mischievousness Harry answered, "Draught of Living Death a powerful sleeping potion, sir. Unless of course you added a single Runespore egg and then it would become a tasteless and colorless poison known as Vipers Revenge."

Snape was not only shocked that James Potter's son answered that question correctly, but also that he knew about such a deadly, assassin level poison. He was now slightly off centered by the response.

"Where would you look if I told you to find me a Bezor?" Snape switched tactics and asked an obvious first year question.

"The stomach of a goat sir," Harry answered with a barely hidden sigh. "It is a stone that can save a person from most poisons." He added to show the man he was not stupid or ignorant.

Snape's reaction was now evident to the whole class. His sallow skin was now tinted with the deep red of anger.

"What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Snape then spit out, not even trying to hide his anger and dislike of Harry. The question was a late first, early second year question.

"They are the same plant which also goes by the name aconite and is one of the main ingredients in the Wolfsbane Potion, a potion that aids werewolves in keeping their human mind while changed, during the full moon."

"TEN POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR," Snape bellowed, his voice then returned to a more manageable level, "For your cheating and your cheek."

"Sir how was I cheating and disrespectful?" Harry asked softly honestly confused, wanting a way to argue the point loss, but also getting angry that this man would so openly berate students that paid his salary.

"Twenty points for questioning a teacher." Snape snapped.

Harry had enough of the man and began silently packing his belongings back into his bag. He then stood up quietly and began to walking to the classroom door. He refused to sit under this man's supposed tutelage any longer. He may have to appear like he needed to be at Hogwarts but that did not mean he or anyone else was required to pay the man to be nasty to them.

"Get back in your seat Potter!" Snape roared as he watched the insolent boy walk out the door, "Fifty points and a weeks detention Potter, for leaving class without permission." He said as his voice followed Harry out of the classroom.

Harry remained silent as he continued down the hallway, daring the man to follow him. He then turned down the Transfiguration hallway intent on speaking to Professor McGonagall about what had happened in Potions. When he arrived at her classroom, Harry could hear that she was in the middle of a lecture and did not think it would be a good idea to interrupt, so he decided to head to Dumbledore's office instead.

Harry paused in a small alcove and penned a note to Sharpmaw about what happened and what he planned to do about it. He then asked what if anything he could do if his plans did not succeed. He would not willingly sit in that man's classroom ever again. After the message was written, Harry put it in the secret mail slot of his book bag and sent it.

Once he arrived at the Headmaster's office, Harry looked closely at the gargoyle guarding the door. He began to smirk as he examined the magic of the guardian. 'Basic animation transfiguration, middle level password ward and half of a voice recognition ward.' He listed off as he examined it. Harry realized that Dumbledore used the voice recognition ward to identify the person wanting in, so he could appear to have the upper hand, simply by calling the person's name when they reached the inner door.

Harry found the listening point on the statue and knocked on it several times, knowing that the sound would jar the headmaster, he then said with a smile, "Hey _**Stoney**_ ole boy," speaking dramatically to the gargoyle, knowing that the headmaster could hear him. "Can you let the Headmaster know that I am down here and I walked out of potions on the old greasy bat?"

As he expected the gargoyle quickly leapt to the side revealing the outer door, schooling his face so he would not smirk, Harry stepped onto the lowest step of the stairs and let the staircase move him toward the inner door. He noticed a second identification rune on the wall nearest the door as he arrived just outside the inner door. A modest knock on the door and he heard the expected, "Come in Harry."

"Hello Headmaster, I see _**Stoney**_ gave you my message." Harry said in a neutral tone and passive face. "I had some problems with _Professor_ _**Snape**_ and would have gone to Professor McGonagall but she has class."

"Come in Harry," Dumbledore said calmly, his eyes twinkling, "Have a seat and let's discuss what happened."

Harry sat down and began explaining what had happened in the classroom, all the while Dumbledore's eyes continued to twinkle. He then said something the headmaster was not expecting, "I want to transfer to another potions teacher."

Dumbledore folded his hands together in a manner that was obviously intended to calm and draw Harry's attention. "I am sorry Harry, but Professor Snape is the only Potions teacher we have at Hogwarts."

"Then I respectfully ask to be allowed to bring in an outside tutor," Harry began. "Since I am paying for my education and that man appears to have issues against me. With such issues the likelihood that I will be able to learn anything from him is nil."

"I am sorry Harry but I cannot allow that," Dumbledore began.

"Fine headmaster," Harry said getting up from his chair and walked to the door. He then turned back to Dumbledore and said, "I am sure that Board of Governors will be contacting you about my grievance."

Dumbledore was shocked that a first year and especially a muggle raised first year would know about the grievance policy, but he allowed nothing to show as he responded, "I await their owl, now return to the potions classroom." Expecting Harry to obey and not actually contact the Governors.

Harry was now livid but continued with his neutral appearance saying, "I" he then whispered, "Stormbrow Deatheyes" followed by a clear, "Harry James Potter swear on my life and magic that I will never willingly set foot in any classroom that Potions Master Severus Snape teaches, oversees, directs or is otherwise in charge of ever again, so mote it be." He then walked out the door and down the stairs. He fully realized that would include the scheduled study period that the professor oversaw in rotation.

The size of the massive white cloud of magic that encircled and settled on Harry surprised Dumbledore as the magically binding oath set itself on Harry's magic. Dumbledore was again surprised that Harry knew anything about them, let alone had the power to seal one. That oath ruined another set of plans Dumbledore had for Harry's life, as he could not jeopardize Harry's magic.

'That will require a complete reevaluation of my plans for Harry' Dumbledore thought to himself.

Hours later, Dumbledore had Snape in his office not only getting his jaded side of the incident, but to tell him that their plans had failed spectacularly. He was not happy that Harry would not be as pliant as they hoped and would not apparently be able to be controlled.

"The brat answered potions questions that were above his year and yet could not even handle my disciplining him." Snape ranted.

"You could not wait even a week before attacking him, because he happens to look like your old rival," Dumbledore chastised, "and now you permanently lost the opportunity."

"I will restrain myself when he is in my classroom next," Snape responded in an attempt to please Dumbledore, not noticing the exact wording Dumbledore had used.

"I fear that will not happen as young Harry has sworn a magical oath against having any classroom based dealings with you...ever again." Dumbledore said softly. "I am sorry to say that Harry will have to have a potions tutor for the time he is at Hogwarts. Little did he know that Harry was already making plans to remove several other students from the Potions Master's classes.

~o0o~

That evening after dinner, Harry began the first stage of his plans.

"Hermione, what would you do if you had a private place to study and more time to do it in?" Harry asked almost innocently.

"I don't know, I really would love to have extra time to study and a nice place to do it in." Hermione responded, "Why?"

Ignoring her return question for the moment, Harry turned to ask a similar question of Ron and Neville. When Ron looked distressed over having to do extra homework or studying, Harry changed the question. "What would you do if you had more time to play chess and practice Quidditch?"

He then looked at Neville and offered another more personal question, "What would you do if you had more time to work on spells, exercise and study Herbology?" Harry already knew about Neville's fascination with the subject.

Before they could answer he turned back to Hermione and asked, "What would you do if you had time to study for tests you are missing in muggle school by being here?"

Hermione was now extremely curious and frustrated so she snapped and said, "I would love it!"

"Would it be worth a magically binding oath?" Harry asked, his eyes now gleaming with power.

"Yes," All three of his friends answered at the same time. They then broke down with giggles at how funny they were.

Harry smiled and then handed each of them a slip of parchment. On the parchment, was a simple but powerful binding oath. They each read the oath and nodded. Harry then motioned for them to follow him upstairs to the dorms.


	5. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters. I am not making money off of them nor do I intend to do so. I am only borrowing them for a brief time.

A/N "Spoken English", 'Thoughts', {Gobbledegook}

Special A/N: _**the Great Dragon**_ is not a Malfoy or any canon character

Chapter Four

Harry pushed open the door to the boy's dormitory and made sure that it was presently empty, it was. He then ushered Ron, Neville and Hermione into the room. He then turned and softly said, "I need that oath now."

Ron was the first to take out his wand and repeat the oath, "I Ronald Bilius Weasley swear on my life and magic that I will not reveal what Harry Potter is about to reveal to me, so mote it be." A small white cloud of magic encircled and settled on Ron sealing the oath.

Harry then looked at Neville and Hermione expectantly. When he saw a brief bit of doubt in Neville's eyes, he smiled. "Nothing that I am going to reveal is bad, harmful or illegal and once tonight is over the oath will be complete."

Neville and Hermione both sighed with relief, but for different reasons. Neville was concerned that the oath would be ongoing, while Hermione was scared that he had done something bad or illegal.

With that assurance both of them quickly took the same oath. The cloud of magic that surrounded Hermione was roughly the same size as the one around Ron. Neville's on the other hand was halfway between theirs and Harry's in size, proving to both Harry and Neville that he was a powerful Wizard.

Harry smiled and showed the confused trio his trunk. It was only after revealing the dialing mechanism that Ron and Neville understood what they were seeing. Hermione was confused until Harry silently showed her is regular trunk space and then dialed up the non-time-compressed flat.

Harry then showed them around the room, the potions lab and the library. The boys laughed as they had to pull Hermione from the library. They met and petted Havoc. Harry could see that Hermione would be researching Massics in the very near future. Toward that end as well as her love of his library, Harry offered to allow her to use it in the future. He then returned them to the lounge and allowed them to set down on the couches.

Ron looked at the fireplace and then shot up yelling, "Bloody Hell!" and then began pointing at the coat of arms that was predominately displayed over the fireplace mantel.

Neville looked at it and then asked, "It looks almost like the Gringotts coat of arms, but not quite, what does it mean Harry?"

"I was magically adopted into a goblin family," Harry said simply. He then began to tell them his real life story and what had happened. He was happily surprised with each of their faces as he told his story, the anger and hurt at his treatment by the Dursleys to the content and interest of how he was accepted and trained by the Goblins. Hermione finally broke down and launched herself at him, hugging him and sobbing. Harry realized she was hugging him as he had never been hugged before.

"Why are you here then?" Ron asked.

"My Wizard magic training is incomplete," Harry began to explain. "While I may have a masters level at Goblin based magics, I only have about a 2nd or 3rd year in Wizard magic, plus Dumbledore is expecting me to be here so he can manipulate my life."

All three of the other students were instantly affronted by Harry's accusation of Dumbledore. Harry waved them off quickly by saying, "I have proof."

Harry then spent the next hour going over the proof he and the goblins had amassed, The soul shard, the placement with the Dursley's and abuse by them, the unattended blocks and stoppages, as well as the prophecy and what he and the sorting hat had talked about Dumbledore wanting. Then he went into the area which they had suspicions but no proof, Sirius Black not having a trial even though Dumbledore was the head of that division of the government, Dumbledore declaring himself as Harry's magical guardian and so on.

By the end of the hour Harry had convinced them of the reasonings he did not like or trust the old wizard. It was then that Harry told them of his early morning and late night schedule, he then explained that his future self would be returning in a few minutes and it was a bad idea for them to meet at the same time.

After leaving the trunk, Harry further explained that the trunk had several spaces that were in time compression and he would be going back in time each Sunday afternoon, into the compressed portions of the trunk where he would stay for the equivalent of two weeks. He then jokingly called it his vacation time.

"Why is that Harry?" Hermione asked.

"The week that I spend in regular time has sixteen hours added to each day," Harry began to explain, "Eight in the early morning and eight in the late evening." He then pointed at the trunk and continued. "When I go into compressed time I gain an additional two weeks, the time turner will not work during the compressed time."

When he saw Hermione about to ask "Why" he cut her off by saying, "I am not sure, but it has something to do with quantum mechanics and that stuff gives me a headache."

It was then decided that the others would join Harry when he went into compressed time, to try it out. Hermione was excited about all the extra reading and homework she could do in the time. Ron was excited to learn that Harry had an area that could be used for flying and with some minor spells could even have a practice Quidditch pitch. Neville was interested in what plants Harry had in there and trying to stay up with everyone else in class.

~o0o~

The remainder of that week went quickly for Harry. He liked Charms, but had not had the chance to talk privately with Professor Flitwick. Herbology was interesting and had several connections with potions. Harry was bored in both History of magic and Astronomy. In History he just brought his Everybook and read from it, totally ignoring the droning voice of the ghost teacher. He just bit is tongue during Astronomy, did the in-class work and put off the homework until he was either redoing time or until he was in compressed time, depending on when it was due.

Defense Against Dark Arts purely annoyed Harry. He had observed Quirrell, who he could not call a Professor in his own mind, and had come to the conclusion that not only was the man abysmal at Defense, but he was either hiding something or possessed. Harry decided to look into it later though. For DADA Harry took the same idea as Astronomy and just continued on with a disgruntled huff.

Since his exit of Potions, several students came up to him and asked Harry how he was going study the required course without going to class. Harry calmly informed them that he was having a potion tutor and their new apprentice come to Hogwarts to teach him. In truth, that was partially correct. His former Potions Master and the new apprentice were coming to Hogwarts, but it had already been agreed that Stormbrow Deatheyes would be helping the apprentice in their early studies, since they wanted to eventually teach.

~o0o~

Sunday morning after Harry's early morning return to the past was a beautiful morning. Harry stretched in preparation for his early morning run. Neville had been running with him since the second day, Hermione joined them on the third. Ron waited until the fifth day, but was accepted by the others without comment.

None of the three had the endurance or strength that Harry had, but Harry could see that he, Ron and Neville would be physically strong when puberty finally hit. Hermione would have the physical presence but without over large muscles. Each ran at a speed that was comfortable for them, which allowed them to be spread out over the distance. Harry in the led, followed by several yards by Neville, a few more by Hermione and finally Ron.

Harry could tell that by the end of the year the three of them would all be equal and able to stay together, even possibly catch up with him. He was hoping that they would eventually want to train with him full-time. Neville wanted to do so was almost a given, Hermione would want to use the extra time to study, but the one he questioned the most was Ron.

Harry had already told them that he was going to gate over to Gringotts and he planned on spending the rest of the morning and early afternoon with Sharpmaw and Stoneater before he and the others went into their first time compression.

As soon as they were done with their run, Harry headed to his trunk while everyone else headed to their dorms for much needed showers. The reason Harry did not also shower was simple, he loved the bathing pool that his goblin parents had in their cave. When Harry dialed zero on his trunk the lid opened immediately and he climbed down into the smallest dimensional space the trunk had.

The gate room of the trunk was barely larger than a small walk-in closet. It had just enough space for the ladder, the gate and the control panel. Harry made sure the lid was closed on the trunk and then active the rune that controlled the lighting for that area. He then moved to the control panel. With practiced ease he then touched five runes, activating them. After a brief pause, the panel flared and activated the gate.

The circular frame of the gate began to glow, first red, then blue and finally green. Once the frame was green a black vortex of energy began to swirl in the center. It grew until it touched the frame, then it changed to a bright crystal white. Harry smiled as he stepped through the gate.

~o0o~

{Mother, Father I am home!} Harry bellowed as he entered the family cavern. He knew that almost instantly to duck as Stoneater would probably throw a pot or ladle at him for startling her. The expected ladle missed his head by slightly less than an inch. Harry just giggled as he retrieved it and walked toward the kitchen area.

When he entered the hearth area, he was not surprised to see Stoneater with another ladle in hand stirring a pot of her nearly famous Kar'taal, a hearty stew made of roots, some vegetables and a Kagaan'Kar When Harry first heard that Kagaan'Kar were a type of rodent he was sickened, that was until he learned that they were raised like Muggles raised cattle and were good sources of both meat and hides. It quickly became one of his favorite meals.

{How close was I?} Stoneater asked, not looking up from her cooking, though her eyes showed a mischievous gleam.

{Slightly less than an inch} Harry answered as he respectfully washed the ladle in a nearby stone sink.

{I guess I need to practice more on your father} The goblin woman grumbled good naturedly. She then changed the subject by saying, {We have news.}

Harry could tell by her tone that the news was either not good or was at least partly not good.

{I also have news,} Harry added as he finished with the ladle and put it back where it belonged.

{Sharpmaw will be here in few moments to tell you his portion of the news}, She explained. The silence after that told him she also had news and at least in her mind it was not good.

Five minutes later Sharpmaw walked into the kitchen and sighed. That sigh was enough for Harry to know that something major was going on. {What has happened Father of my heart} He asked, using the more caring title in hopes of calming the older goblin.

Sharpmaw smiled and said, {I news affects Harry James Potter, the Prophecy Child and Stormbrow Deatheyes.}

"Damn" Harry said slipping in to English.

A mild glare for his language came from Stoneater, but she remained silent.

"What news do you have for Harry Potter?" Harry asked. His question was said so he could divide his thoughts just like Sharpmaw had divided the news.

"Two things and both of them very annoying," Sharpmaw said also shifting to English.

"First, Dumbledore still does not know that you are no longer with your relatives and that he is no longer your Magical Guardian," He continued. "The man has lost his mind, he has submitted a Writ of Betrothal for you and one Genieva Molly Weasley."

Harry's face turned bright red in pure rage. His eyes gleaming with emerald lightning. The objects in the room began to shake, some badly.

"CALM YOURSELF NOW!" Sharpmaw bellowed.

Harry immediately tucked his head in submission. They shaking objects slowed their shaking but did not stop.

"Calm yourself," Sharpmaw repeated but calmly.

{My deepest apologizes great father} Harry said dropping to the floor and uncovering his neck.

Sharpmaw was both upset with and proud of Harry. The very act of placing himself in such a position without a second thought warmed the Goblin's heart, but the fact that he reacted in such a way to force the issue was upsetting.

Sharpmaw placed his clawed hand gently on Harry's neck. {Calm words and thoughts make a warrior unbeatable in even the greatest of battles} He repeated an old Goblin saying. "Now that you are better able to control yourself, let me continue,." His gnarled hand never leaving Harry's neck.

"Goblin Griphook was able to at least temporarily stop the Headmaster's manipulations in this regard, by revealing that the Potter Family had rules about Betrothals and as such they had to be followed if it were to go through." The older goblin explained.

"First thing against him, is you have not met young Miss Weasel. Second is the matter of a Dowry and the Brides Price. Being that Weasel's are a rather poor family, they cannot match with a Dowry to the Brides Price your family has set for your future Betrothal. Third and lastly, the only way a Writ of Betrothal can be created is if you are a heterosexual Wizard."

Harry immediately understood two very big things, He was no longer classified as a Wizard, since he had been adopted and two, he might not be heterosexual.

Sharpmaw smiled as he felt Harry relax. "The other news is about Sirius Black," He began and then plowed on not allowing Harry time to react. "We have found that he indeed did not have a trial and it does appear as if he is innocent of the crimes they claim he committed."

"What can we do?" Harry asked softly.

"Not much at this time, unfortunately," Sharpmaw answered. "We are attempting to get the Ministry to open an inquiry about it, but there is very little we can do." He then sighed, paused, sighed again and then said, "Once you have openly completed your NEWTs you can demand the satisfaction as a survivor."

"That will be in at least four or five years," Harry responded almost whining.

Sharpmaw ignored the whine in his voice and said, "I know child, but if we do more, then the ministry can do something that causes Mr. Black to have an accident while imprisoned."

Harry glared at the idea, but remained silent.

{Do you think you can retain your composure while I tell you other news that you will not like or do you want to remain as you are?} Sharpmaw asked returning to Gobbledegook.

{I can retain, but you are my father, it is for you to decide,} Harry said softly.

With a gentle slap on the back of Harry's neck Sharpmaw released his hold. Harry then stood but kept his face down toward the floor. The slightly shorter Goblin reached up, taking Harry's face into his hands and then promptly tweaked his nose. The giggles that followed from both eased the tension momentarily.

{The new on the Prophecy Child front is both good and bad.} Sharpmaw stated as Harry decided to sit at the older goblins feet instead of one of the chairs. {Lady Seer Blindsight has given another prophecy about you.}

{_**The Prophecy Child shall slow after he is joined by the Tawny Owl, Great Brown Bear, the young Lion, the Crow pair, the loon and the Wolverine .**_

_** Knowledge is gained to the detriment of the mind, Strength is gained to the detriment of the body, Time is spent to the detriment of the heart, once he is joined by the cat, the grim and the cursed one.**_

_** The learned half-breed and the gentle goliath shall be of an aid, but none shall help as the Great Dragon, the Prophecy Childs mate. Great is he that is the mate of the Prophecy Child.**_}

Harry looked stricken, even with the understanding that both the Goblins and to a lesser degree the Wizards accepted same sex mates, he still felt ashamed as it had been drilled into his head by the Dursley's, He was going to have a male mate in the future.

Sharpmaw instinctually knew where Harry's mind was going and gently took the top of Harry's head in his massive palm and gently shook it side to side. {There is nothing wrong with having a strong mate} He then changed and began forcing Harry to nod {I will accept that my mate is going to love me and be for my best}. {I will not worry about it until after I find out who all these animals are in my life} Harry's head was now shaking again.

{Besides that Lady Seer Blindsight decided that you are going to need an even larger trunk next year} Sharpmaw said again nodding Harry's head.

Harry was now laughing instead of getting more depressed and asked. {What else has happened?}

{The Ministry has finally asked Gringotts to inventory, seal and seize the vaults of those presently in Azkaban Prison.} Sharpmaw answered. {With the exception of three sets of vaults we have complied.}

Harry looked up at Sharpmaw knowing there were reasons for not obeying the Ministry.

{The first set of vaults belongs to Sirius Black and being that he has never been convicted, they cannot be sealed or seized.} Sharpmaw began to explain. {The second set belong to the former Dark Lord Voldemort and according to Goblin laws are the property of the one that vanquished him, which is you.} He held up a finger to silence Harry and then continued. {The third vault belonged to the Lestrange family and it has been confiscated in the name of the Goblin Nation.}

Harry was shocked, the only reasons why the Gringotts would ever confiscate a vault was either by order of the Ministry or if something in the vaults broke one of the many treaties between the goblins and the Wizards. {Why?}

{They had a cup within the main vault that had a soul shard in it, just like the one that was with you.} Sharpmaw explained. {It has since been cleansed and Voldemort as well as the Lestranges have been declared enemies of the Goblin Nation.}

Harry then cussed in Gobbledegook, soft enough that Stoneater did not hear but loud enough that Sharpmaw was proud of his diversity of words. He then turned to Sharpmaw and asked, {So, what news for Stormbrow Deatheyes?}

{Two things, first you are to contact the House Elves at Hogwarts and attempt to have them train you, if you can learn their magic.} Sharpmaw explained. {Second, you will be spending at least the 20:1 if not the 30:1 compression being trained by the Elite Goblin Warrior Trainers.}

{Good!} Stormbrow said with a growl, he then asked {I would like to trained even further if the old Head manipulator does not answer some questions I plan to ask by the end of the school year.}

{The only training we can go further would be 50:1} Sharpmaw stated.

{I know} was Stormbrows growled response. {We can use the extra time to train more warriors if necessary.}

Then as the thought came to him Sharpmaw added, {Oh yes Master Darkmath and his apprentice will be arriving at Hogwarts on Monday just after breakfast,"

{Good to know} Harry said with a smile.

{Now what is your news my son?} Sharpmaw asked.

{My friends are in} Harry responded and then began to explain the previous week and the plans he had to his father.

~o0o~

Harry arrived back at Hogwarts through his trunk's gate without incident or being discovered. He was carrying a large box full of more books that he and Sharpmaw had decided would not only please Hermione but would also help her, Ron and Neville in the future. Harry was ready to spend two weeks training, instead of playing around acting as if he was ignorant of the things going on around him.

Harry had been surprised when he came down here and began wondering where everyone was going to sleep. As he walked back and forth in the living room the flat grew three more rooms. He found that each of the rooms was large enough that he could add a second bed. After a few flicks of his hand, the rooms were decorated for his friends.

Neville's room was done in light browns and dark greens, nothing remotely resembling the Slytherin colors but it did reminded Harry of Neville's earthy nature. Ron's room on the other hand was an explosion of reds, oranges and assorted yellows. Hermione's was a pale pink and light blue, with wood accents.

Havoc was happily playing in Harry's bedroom, when he led Ron, Neville and Hermione into the time-compressed flat for the first time. He showed them the artificial outside where they could fly or take walks, the training room, the library and finally the bedrooms. Each of them loved their individual bedrooms.

"Okay it is now, time to shut the lid and let the time compression begin," Harry announced shutting the lid.

"It doesn't feel any different," Hermione said almost in a whisper.

"It won't," Harry agreed. He then motioned everyone to sit around the dining room table.

"I think we should study…" Hermione began but was stopped by Harry putting up a hand.

"I already have an outline of what we are going to study." Harry interjected. He then handed out copies of the schedule. It showed that every other day would be muggle related schooling and the other would be Wizarding.

"Muggle classes!" Ron whined. "Why?"

"Three reason," Harry responded before Hermione could speak. "First, muggles have technology that wizards have no idea about and it could help us in a fight. Second, by learning muggle classes we are able to blend in and work in both worlds. Lastly, Purebloods never consider using muggle tricks and because of that it is a weakness."

"Muggle tricks?" Neville asked.

"Remind me later and I will show you what I mean." Harry responded.

"Harry this schedule is more detailed than mine," Hermione said in a tone that said she was not sure if she liked that or not.

_**Muggle Classes**_ (1 hour each)

_**English**_

_**Science**_

_**Math**_

_**Foreign Languages**_

_**History**_

_**Muggle Life Studies (how to live in the muggle world)**_

_**Magical Classes**_(1 hour each)

_**Charms**_

_**Transfiguration**_

_**Potions**_

_**DADA**_

_**Runes**_

_**Arithmancy**_

_**Astronomy/Herbology/History/Care of Magical Creatures**_

"We do Magic study one day and then muggle the next, alternating so we get a week of each and don't get bored doing either." Harry explained. "Doing it this way we will learn more than we do in regular classes since we are doing more work each day."

The schedule Hogwarts had created only allowed the students at most three hours of study per subject per week and in most cases it was only two. With the schedule Harry created they would have would have a total of seven hours for each subject. Plus adding the classes that they would not have for over two more years gave them a large head start.

"Harry Arithmancy, Runes and Magical Creatures are third year electives," Hermione nearly shrieked.

"I know," Harry said with a smile, "By the time we are in third year, you should be ready to take your OWLs in them if not your NEWTs"

"Why are Astronomy, Herbology and History lumped with Magical Creatures?" Neville asked.

"Well we have no way of seeing the stars in here," He then smiled as he looked pointedly at Neville. "As of right now we have no greenhouses or plants to study and history can be more or less a self-study since Binns is dead boring." The unspoken statement was that Neville could add plants to the artificial outside area and they would then expand the subject.

"Plus we don't have any magical creatures in here either." Hermione chirped.

Harry smiled at his friends as they began discussing the positives and negatives of Harry's plan. While they were busy doing that, Harry retrieved the box from Sharpmaw and opened it. Inside were shrunken books. Harry handed each of them a set and promptly unshrunk them.

Each of his friends now had the core books for every year of Hogwarts. For those classes that changed year to year due to changing Professors such as in Defense, they instead had the best books on the market over the subject. They also had every muggle class book for 5th year though college prep. Hermione was ecstatic, while Ron looked slightly green and Neville was confused.

Harry then got a look on his face of pure mischief. He then handed them each a copy of one of his father's journals, renamed 'The Marauders Book of Animagus Change'.

Again each of their reactions were different, Hermione sputtered about it being illegal. Ron looked as if Christmas had came early and Neville just smiled silently.

"My brothers would love to get their hands on this." Ron crowed. He finally had something that they did not.

~o0o~

An hour later, Harry had his friends in the training room. The room itself looked to be made of stone, a control panel similar to the one in the gate compartment stood by the door.

"Welcome again to the training room," Harry said shutting the door behind them. "This room is the latest in Goblin magic." He then touched the control panel bringing it to life.

"This room can create different environments that can be used for our training. That includes the location and assorted people, beings, creatures and animals." Harry explained. To show them what he meant he touched the control panel and brought up a perfect simulation of Diagon Alley.

"What happens if you try and leave the simulated area?" Hermione asked.

"Depends on if you are the only one in here or not," Harry began. "If you are the only one in here or the group moves together it will make it appear like the Leaky Cauldron or Nocturne Alley and the other smaller alleys, depending on which direction you go. They have an exact copy of each building in this unit." He continued lightly tapping the side of the control panel. "If you are in a separated group and go beyond what the others are aware of, you end up back in the normal training room, locked in the area you are in until everyone else is done."

He then turned and looked at both Ron and Neville. "I brought you here to learn a bit more about why I want all of us to learn muggles lessons as well as magical." He then tapped a sequence of buttons making the simulated Alley look as if it was daytime.

"Muggles have a math and a science that can be used together in a way to help our spells." Harry began to explain, "The math is called Geometry and the science is call Physics." With them even a lowly first year can fight back against Death Eaters and other low level dark wizards."

Ron scoffed at that.

Harry just smiled and continued, "Let's say you and friends are on the Alley shopping, Death Eaters attack and surround one of your friends." Harry paused long enough to make the control panel create a young red headed girl who was standing underneath a hanging sign. Harry did not know at the time the girl looked very much like Ron's sister Ginny.

"This girl is your simulated friend and you have to protect her since she is just buying her supplies for first year." Harry had no idea what the image was doing to Ron or the good it would him in the future. "You only have learned spells from the 1st year, which includes the severing charm." He then called up a group of three Death Eaters in full robes and masks.

The simulated Death Eaters approached the girl speaking with menacing tones and body language, the girl screamed. "What are you going to do?" Harry whispered.

It was then that Harry notice Ron looked terrified and just stood there whispering something to himself, but he did have his wand out.

Harry waved his hand and the simulation stopped. He then smiled at Ron with an understanding smile. "Notice the sign that is now above the Death Eaters' heads?"

Ron, Neville and Hermione each nodded.

"What if I told you that two simple severing charm can make that sign fall and hit at least two if not all three of them, making it where our friend there can run and hide?" Harry asked.

"Can't be done," Neville responded.

"Watch," Harry said with a smirk. With another flick of his hand the action started again. He then pointed at the sign with his left hand and said, "Notice the rope holding the sign?"

"_**Diffindo**_!" Harry cast, intentionally under-powering his spell. The spell his the rope just at the point it connected to the wall. Harry waited a fraction of second and the cast "_**Diffindo**_!" again. This time the spell hit the sign at an angle.

At first Ron and Neville both did not think the second spell did anything until they noticed the sign flatten out. The result of the two spells shocked the boys and mildly surprised Hermione.

The sign crashed into the heads of two of the Death Eaters, one would have died from the impact, the other would have been seriously injured and the third was knocked off his feet by being hit by his fellow Death Eater. The girl was able to scurry away unharmed. Instead of blood and body parts that would have been there in a real situation, the dead Death Eater had a skull and crossed bones above it, the injured Death Eater had a red cross over it.

Harry looked at his now shocked friends and said, "Combining muggle teaching with a 1st year spell was enough to kill one Death Eater, injure another and disrupt the actions of a third."

The gleam in Ron's eyes was not missed by either Harry or Hermione even though they did not fully understand the reason for it. Harry's demonstration was enough that Ron would become almost as fanatical about studying as he was about Quidditch.

~o0o~

Over the next two time compressed weeks, Ron, Hermione and Neville woke when Harry did, ran and exercised with Harry, though they set out when he began doing his weapons and martial arts training. They then spent an hour meditating and focusing their minds in the hopes of connecting with their Animagus animals. Harry worked on his Shadow Cat form during that time.

The muggle schooling portion allowed Harry more freedom. Hermione was at least a grade above both Ron and Neville and she was able to both tutor them and continue her own studies. On the rare occasions she needed help, Harry was there. During the other times Harry was working on his elemental training, in hopes of both becoming adept in his Shadow element and in doing so, having access to his Shadow Cat form. The process was slow, but Harry noticed he was advancing.

On the last Thursday, Hermione had a break through with her Animagus animal and the Saturday before they returned to regular time, Ron and Neville had a similar break though. Harry was mildly dismayed when Hermione announced her form was a Tawny Owl.

Harry hid it by joining Ron in agreeing that they both could see her as an Owl. He could hide the shock when Ron was a lion and Neville was a Kodiak Bear, known to the Goblins as the Great Brown Bear. 'Crap, that means the twins have to be the "Crow Pair", I am so screwed' Harry thought to himself.

By the time they were preparing to leave, each of the three friends were well over a month ahead in all their classes. They were even talking about the next time so Harry jokingly asked, "So did you guys hate it or what?"

"NO!" his three friends roared in unison.

"So do you want to do it again?" Harry then asked in fake shyness.

"YES!" was the unified response.

"Good," Harry said with a smile.

~o0o~

Dumbledore and Snape were not happy that Monday morning as they waited for the Potions master named Darkmath arrived at Hogwarts. The older man was followed by a younger man, who apparently was only a few years out of school. They met the new potions tutor and his apprentice at the main doors of the castle. Snape knew of Darkmath by his body of work and the fact that his own master had finished his training under the man. What neither Snape nor Dumbledore knew was that Darkmath was a goblin under heavy glamour.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." Dumbledore began, his eyes twinkling in hopes of catching either man's eye so he could enter their minds. What he found instead was a solid wall protecting both of their minds, so he quickly withdrew before being detected.

"Thank you, Headmaster Dumbledore," Darkmath said almost dismissively. "This is my co-Apprentice Mr. Stephenson." He intentionally left out the man's first name.

"Co-Apprentice?" Snape asked with a silky, obviously faked voice.

"Aye," Darkmath responded. "He is also the Apprentice of Master Deatheyes.

Stormbrow Deatheyes was master that had been in every potions journal for the last three months, revealing a new potion every couple of weeks and to know such a man was a co-master with a living legend of potions, surprised both Professors. What they did not know was that Harry had completed his Potions training while in compressed time and spent the remaining time modifying and creating new versions of established potions. With the time compression, it allowed the goblins to slowly release his work over the next year or so, so that it appeared as if Harry and Stormbrow were two different people and gave Harry the time to create more potions.

Apprentice Stephenson was a handsome man with long copper-brown hair tied back in a white ribbon, grey eyes, a slight but muscular build and long delicate fingers on his hands. His time with Darkmath and Deatheyes would only last two years, since his previous master had died in the third year of his five year program.

"I was told that you would need a classroom for your tutoring," Dumbledore said with a questioning tone in his voice.

"Yes, the present potions classroom would not be acceptable." Darkmath said neutrally.

Snape raised an eyebrow at that statement but remained silent.

"I find that I can brew better in a moderate climate, I heard that the present classroom is in the dungeons, which are too cold." Darkmath explained. "Plus I will be '_**tutoring**_' Mr. Potter during the same time as his potions class would be normally held, so that he does not have to alter his class schedule further."

He then drew himself up and said, "I need a classroom on or above the ground floor with adequate ventilation."

Dumbledore thought for a moment and then with a nod, said "I have just the classroom, right this way." He then led the men toward his idea for the classroom.

Within minutes, Potions Master Darkmath and Apprentice Stephenson unpacked their pockets, which revealed to have a full masters potion lab shrunk and in stasis. Snape was shocked when they withdrew three potions lockers that were each larger than his own Potion stores. He marveled at the shrunk trunks that held all the other equipment required for potion brewing.

Dumbledore was not happy as he watched the two potion brewers efficiently and quickly set up the classroom as a potions lab. He noticed that several of the items that Darkmath had brought were more advanced and up to date than the equipment in Severus' own personal lab. He did notice though the look of envy on Snape's face.

"Now," Darkmath said as he finished with the last cauldron's placement. "I need to see my student." He then internally laughed at the idea.

~o0o~

It was now Saturday, the second Saturday of the school year and Harry was livid. They had just finished their first ever 'official' flying lesson and Neville had been hurt. While he would never be better than adequate at flying, Neville had lost his fear of flying with the help of Ron and Harry during their time in compressed time. He could accept the fact the McGonagall wanted him on the house Quidditch team, but Harry was furious at the Slytherins for their behavior and Malfoy stealing Neville's Remembrall, plus the school brooms were ancient. In Harry's thoughts they had just proven to be dangerous to the students.

Harry sent a letter though his book bag to Sharpmaw.

_**Father,**_

_**I just finished my first flying lesson. Short story I am now on the house Quidditch team after rescuing Neville's Remembrall. Neville was injured with a broken wrist and he will not be able to join us this time in time-compression. The reason? The school's brooms are ancient Comet 100's and have not been well maintained. I believe they are a safety risk, which I tried to tell the flying instructor, but she took points and threatened me with a detention.**_

_**What can be done?**_

_**Stormbrow**_

Within minutes Harry had his response.

_**My Son,**_

_**I brought this issue to the goblins in charge of the Hogwarts accounts. Their suggestion was for an anonymous donor to supply the school with broom. They made it clear that it should be the broom themselves not Gallons, it seems that others have donated before and the money gets re-routed to other areas, namely potions.**_

_**Sharpmaw**_

A quick letter later,

_**Father,**_

_**Let's do it, twenty brooms should be enough. I suggest the Comet 500 or the Nimbus 1500. They are sturdy and reliable.**_

_**Stormbrow**_

The next day a slightly saddened Ron, Hermione and Harry entered their second time compression. Harry informed them of the broom issue and then suggested that they help Neville catch up with them.

The second time compression flew by for the three friends who were missing their fourth friend. Each one of them was now well over a month ahead of their year mates. Harry finally had a break though using his shadow element abilities. He was able to travel by shadow, though it was inconsistent and unstable, he knew it would only get better with practice.

An hour after they returned to regular time, Neville was released from the Hospital wing. His wrist was a bit weak but otherwise completely healed.

Harry had decided it was time to talk to the House Elves.

That afternoon, just before dinner, Harry inched up to the massive painting of a bowl of fruit. It was the entrance to the Hogwart's Kitchens. He had instructed by Sharpmaw to introduce himself to the elves and that was what he was going to do. Tickling the pear as he had been instructed resulted in it silently laughing and then transforming into a brass doorknob.

When Harry opened the door he was assaulted by two sources. First the air pressure change in opening the door caused the wonderful smell of cooking foods to wash over him and second was the riotous sound of high pitched voices and the clanging pots and pans. The moment Harry was completely visible in the doorway the sounds stopped.

The small bat eared, tennis ball eyed creatures were surprised to see a student in the kitchens this close to dinner time. It was such a shock that they immediately had forgotten about what they were cooking. Without thinking Harry immediately said, "Don't stop watching your cooking on my account, I just need to talk with the Head Elf."

An ancient looking male elf shuffled toward Harry, "I is Muzzy, I is the head elf Master Harry Potter sir." Came a rumbling voice that showed the elf was a male and very ancient.

"Please just Harry, Muzzy." Harry quickly responded. He then quickly explained why he was here. "My father sent me to talk to you." The phrase was a way for the House Elves to keep other peoples secrets.

"You is a human boy, the only father who sent his boy here was not a human." Muzzy said softly, not believing Harry, but trained to remain subservient.

Harry smiled and then touched the rune on his arm band that caused him to shift into his goblin form. Several of the nearby elves squealed in fright over the change, but Harry ignored them and took a pose that was that due a goblin of his station. {I am Stormbrow Deatheyes, son of Sharpmaw, a Goblin by adoption and warrior by rite of combat} He began in Gobbledegook. {I am also Harry James Potter, son of James, a human Wizard by birth}

Muzzy was shocked not only to see a human boy change into a goblin warrior, but to hear him speak in their language. Not even with a human accent but with a goblin accent. "What can Muzzy does for yous?" He finally asked.

Stormbrow smiled in the typical goblin way and then spoke reverting to English. "My father asks that you test me to see if I might be able to use House Elf magic and even possibly send someone to train me."

"We test," Muzzy responded with deep bow.

Over the next fifteen minutes, Muzzy and two other male elves used their magic to test him. Occasionally one or another of them would poke Stormbrow in the arm, the chest, back and in the center of the forehead. They would look at each other after each poke and then wave their hands over him again.

Finally Muzzy spoke and said, "Gobbly boys can sometimes uses our magics, Wizard boys can't uses our magics," He then poked Harry in the stomach and said, "Yous in not just Wizard boy, yous not just Gobbly boy, yous is Magic's boy."

One of the other males then spoke, "Wes can teach Magic's boy."

Harry was confused for a moment considering the title Magic's boy, He then figured it must be the House Elves way of saying he was the Prophecy Child. Little did he know his idea was both correct and very wrong.

The third male then poked him in the stomach and said, "You is hungry, can't be learning stuffs whiles yous hungry."

Stormbrow blinked a total of three times and then exploded in a belly laugh that surprised the smaller elves in the room. Within minutes they had set him at a small table and then proceeded to load it down with food. After that Stormbrow reverted to Harry and they discussed his training wants and needs.

Every third week in real time that Harry and his friends spent in the trunk under time compression and elf would spend the time training him. Harry thought 'If Ron, Neville and Hermione could learn something from the elves that was acceptable as well.'

~o0o~

That night Harry handed Hermione a book. She looked at it in confusion, the book was written in Gobbledegook. "I can't read this Harry." She whispered.

Harry smiled and then tapped the book with his blank wand. The words on the cover and spin then began to shimmer and wiggle, reforming into English. The book was titled "The Truth about House Elves."

"Wizards don't know that much about the reasons House Elves serve them." Harry explained. "This book was written by a Goblin, who asked and received the real answers."

"Why give it to me?" Hermione asked.

"Your muggle-born sensibilities will see the Elves as slaves and not stop to see if there is anything beyond that." He then pointed at the book. "That book will explain things before you have a fit."

Hermione looked offended for a moment and then reevaluated Harry's words and nodded.

"Consider the word symbiotic as you read the book." Harry suggested and then added. "At least that is what it is supposed to be."


	6. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters. I am not making money off of them nor do I intend to do so. I am only borrowing them for a brief time.

A/N "Spoken English", 'Thoughts', {Gobbledegook}

Chapter Five

The first teachers meeting of the year was always held the third Friday of the first month of classes. This was the first time in recent history that the teachers were all looking forward to it, with the exception of Severus Snape. The staff room was buzzing with the teacher's excitement, each of them was either interested in revealing what they knew about Harry Potter the-boy-that-lived, or they were interested in hearing the other teacher's opinions.

The staff was already aware that Mr. Potter had bound himself with a magical oath to never take a class or any other situation that was headed by Severus Snape. Most of them were well aware of the Potions Master's nasty behavior in his class, but could do little or nothing to help the students.

Dumbledore breezed into the room, wearing a lurid purple and green set of robes. He quickly sat down at the head of the staff table and then silently took in the faces of the other teachers. He then smiled and allowed his eyes to twinkle. "Let's get this meeting underway and clear the air on the one subject that I am sure we are all interested."

The only sound was a snort of disagreement from Snape, but he was ignored as the other teachers were used to the man vitriol.

Professor McGonagall spoke first. "Mr. Potter seems to have a natural skill and talent for Transfigurations. He is well ahead of the rest of the class, though it seems that Mr.'s. Longbottom and Weasley as well as Miss. Granger are rapidly gaining on him." She said almost gushing. "If he continues at the rate he is going, I estimate he will be ready to sit his NEWTs in Transfigurations while his classmates are sitting their OWLs."

"I can say the same about his Charms." Filius Flitwick agreed with a small squeak. "I dare say he is a prodigy, if not a multi-master in the making."

Dumbledore was now worried. It appeared as if Harry was powerful and in a small way it reminded him or the former student Tom Riddle. He was quickly brought out of his thoughts when Professor Sprout spoke.

"He is in the top ten in my class, but far from a prodigy," She said with an easy smile. "Mr. Longbottom on the other hand _**is**_ a Herbology prodigy."

"Well Mr. Longbottom and Mr. Potter both are only passing in my class," Professor Sinistra interjected. "They both obviously are not that interested in my class."

Both Professor Binns, who never joined the staff meetings and Professor Snape, who no longer taught Harry, could comment. Professor Quirrell though stuttered out. "He…He…appears…t.t.…be adequate."

Both McGonagall and Flitwick both individually planned on helping the boy develop his skills, regardless what others might say. With a quick glance at each other, they both knew they were in agreement. Harry Potter would become their unofficial protégé.

~o0o~

That same morning Harry and his friends were out running when they were joined by Oliver Wood, the Weasley twins and the rest of the Quidditch team. It was the third morning that the whole team had joined them. It was also the third morning that the rest of the team collapsed soon after beginning running, they were trying in vain to keep up with Harry and his group. Finally Harry took pity on the older teens and stopped.

"If you are going to be out here every day," Harry said in a voice that exuded leadership. "At least let me show you how to not kill yourselves."

He then spent twenty minutes showing them stretching exercises that would help them warm up before running and cool down afterward. He then explained to them that he had been running for years and they would not be able to keep up with him at first, that it would take time and effort. It was agreed that the whole group would run around the Black Lake three times together and then Harry and his group would continue on with their regular run, as the older students got better they would be able to increase the number of laps around the lake.

Just as the others were heading back to the castle the twins stopped Harry for a more private talk. "We want in," They said in stereo.

"What?" Harry asked, partially afraid of what they meant and genuinely confused.

"We know that you and the other lil' firsties…" Fred began.

"Are up to something…"George continued.

"We see that it has helped lil Ronniekins with his lessons…" Fred continued.

"We want in." They finished in stereo.

~o0o~

Two hours later after a hasty meeting with his friends, Harry called the twins into the 1st year boy's dorm, received the oath and then showed them the insides of the trunk. It was quickly agreed upon that they would be joining the others not only in compressed time, but learning both magical and muggle based classes. It would end up being the best decision any of them made.

~o0o~

The next morning at breakfast, five owls were seen making their way to Madame Hooch the flying instructor. Each one of the owls had six shrunk boxes that clearly held brooms in them. Each owl landed with practiced ease, one at a time, one would allow the woman to remove the packages before taking off and immediately being replaced by another owl.

The fifth owl also had a small parchment letter attached:

_Flying Instructor, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,_

_ It has come to our attention that your training brooms are in need of repair or replacement. A contact of ours has deemed it necessary to purchase and donate twenty reliable brooms to your program, but after due consideration we have added to that number to bring your total of new brooms to thirty._

_Sharpmaw,_

_Gringotts_

_P.S. the boxes that the broom are in have been spelled with a single use shrinking charm, simply tap the box and it will enlarge to full size._

Madame Hooch tapped a single box and was surprised when the make and model were revealed to be _**Nimbus 1500**_. She immediately thought of the flying lessons that had been completed and knew that Harry had something to do with the new brooms. She quickly spotted him at the Gryffindor table watching her reaction. With a smile nod of her head, she thanked him for the donation.

Harry also noticed that both Dumbledore and Snape both looked upset at the arrival of the brooms. Snape could not use the money from the brooms for potions and Dumbledore could not take the brooms to be sold so he could expand the other areas that the school needed. Harry then snapped out of his watching the teachers as Hermione began to remind him, Neville and Ron that they were planning on leaving potions like Harry had already done, later that day.

~o0o~

That after noon, Harry walked into the ground level potions classroom that Master Darkmath and Apprentice Stephenson had set up. The warm, clean and well ventilated room was bright with magically suspended globes over each of the five work stations. It was set up so it appeared as if there was a teacher's station and four student stations. Each one had a caldron and the basic tools already prepared and set out, ready for use.

Harry's smile immediately alerted Darkmath and Stephenson of impending chaos. "What is going on…Harry? Darkmath asked, catching himself so he used the proper name.

"Well, I doubt I actually get any real class work done," Harry said with smirk. "Snape's last potion class apparently was too much for Hermione so she, Neville and Ron will be leaving there forever today." He then looked at his watch and said, "I estimate we have five minutes…"

_**BOOM!**_

The castle shook with an explosion.

Harry looked at his watch with disgust, "Damn, she is early!" He then looked up at Darkmath and Stephenson and smiled. "The magical version of Thermite and C4, Neville actually came up with the potion combination."

He then turned serious and said, "We are trying to design a stronger version to be used against Death Eaters and so forth." He then added, "like a high powered muggle grenade."

"Damn sir, is there going to be anythin' left of Snape's lab?" Stephenson asked.

"Well Adam, it is actually not that powerful, if they only used one cauldron of the stuff, he will have to replace any potion ingredients in the area and probably a couple desks." Harry answered pushing his fingers through his hair. "There will probably be a blast scar on the ceiling as well." He then paled. "If they did what I hope they didn't it might take out a whole corner of the lab, though they each promised to shield the other students."

That afternoon Harry learned that they had used three cauldrons, the lab was a total loss and would take two weeks to restore, no students were harmed and Snape had a flash burn on his left arm and was temporarily blinded from the Termite reaction. No punishment was handed out since no one could figure out how a hair growing potion could explode like that, though Ron, Hermione and Neville were given fifty points each for saving the other students.

By the weekend, Harry had been cornered by each of the Quidditch team members who wanted to join Harry's study group. Saturday morning Harry and the other members of the Golden quartet had received the oath from each member of the team. Harry was beginning to see that he was having a small army growing around him. It was also decided that they needed a new location for the trunk as it would look very suspicious for both boys and girls of different ages coming and going from the 1st year boys' dorm.

Harry realized that something had to be done as he could not move his trunk without losing access to his armor, weapons and cloths. He decided to bring up the issue with Sharpmaw and Stoneater during their Sunday afternoon together.

__~o0o~

Sharpmaw looked at Harry with a large smile, to any normal wizard that smile would be terrifying, for Harry it was comforting. Harry had not remembered that Sharpmaw had already considered getting him another trunk that would hold a greater amount. He had already had the thing created and it was waiting when Harry arrived for his regular Sunday visit.

The new trunk was identical to Harry's other trunk on the outside, but was totally redesigned on the inside. The compartments that Harry found were:

A much larger flat with two halls of bedrooms, a large kitchen, breakfast and formal dining rooms, a large common room or living room and a hallway that connected to the other sections of the trunk

A library that Harry later found was directly connected to the library in his other trunk.

A Potions lab larger than Snape's classroom and potion ingredient stores combined. Plus a large potion store.

A fully complete battle armory with both regular and practice weapons, it also possessed a storage locker for the weapons only Harry could use.

A muggle activity and game room, three times the size of the one in Harry's other truck with a Television, VCR, several muggle games and two full sized video games.

A training room divided so part of it could be used for physical training while the other was being used for spell work, both were warded against spell damage. Both sections held separate control panels that could change the area as needed.

A greenhouse large enough to section off so they would have access to plants for potions, as well as two areas for the plants being studied in class. It used magical sunlight instead of having to rely on the real sun.

An area large enough that it had a Quidditch practice pitch, a small forest and a park area

This compartment was a simple stone room the size of the Gryffindor common room, ready to be used however they wanted or needed.

Was another portable gate, but it also had an active floo fireplace connected to it as well. The floo could access any regular floo, while the gate could only access the other trunk's gate and the personal gat at Gringotts.

{Each room with the exception of the portal room can be expanded as needed up to triple its present size} Sharpmaw explained. {The flat can support up to fifteen bedrooms in each hallway, each bedroom can support up to three beds, so if your circle of friends grows that large you can support ninety of them.}

Stoneater then added, {When you bring the trunks home, send one through the portal of the other and then bring the other home manually.}

{The time compression crystal is slightly larger than the other one, allowing a 3:1 ratio instead of 2:1, room O is the only one off the compression, while the lid is closed.} Sharpmaw instructed.

{So can my three friends and I train in both so we basically achieve a 5:1 ratio?} Harry asked.

{Yes, since they are going to be in two separate areas it should be easy to do} Sharpmaw agreed.

{Now I just have to figure out where to put this one that everyone can access without drawing attention.} Harry said sadly.

{Ask the elves,} Stoneater suggested as she drew Harry into a hug. {They will know that castle better than even the headmaster}.

That afternoon before they went into their first time compression, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and the Quidditch team were introduced to the come-and-go room by the tiny house elf Dizzle. It was decided that that the Golden Quartet and the twins would not only spend the compressed time in the new trunk for three but they would then enter the old trunk and spend two additional weeks in there. The entry and exit times were staggered so they would have an hour between exiting one and entering the other.

During that first three week time compression, the twins agreed between themselves first and then with the others that they would sacrifice their free period and join the 1st years in an extra potions lesson with the new tutor. At the end of the uncompressed week they further decided to permanently leave Snape's classroom as well.

It was found that during the time compressions that the older student could help the younger ones with magic while they in turned were helped by the younger ones with muggle studies. After the first time compression, the older students had bonded with the younger and in doing so began creating a tradition that would live on beyond Harry's time at Hogwarts, spreading out from Gryffindors to the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws and finally seeping into Slytherin.

In the years to come it would unofficially be known as the group mentoring program. Seventh years would as a group mentor the 5th years, sixth years would mentor the 4th years, fifth years would mentor the 3rd years, fourth would mentor the 2nd and the third years would mentor the 1st years. This mentoring would not only be about school work, but the magical world and life itself. The creators of this unofficial tradition were also part of the beginnings of what history would call the 'Hogwarts Army of the Light'.

Two weeks later, Dumbledore hummed lightly as he walked toward the classroom set aside for Harry's Potions tutor. Little did he know that he had walked through three Goblin-made warning wards on his approach and it he had continued down the hall past that classroom door another ward would have signaled an 'all clear'.

Even though he was humming he was not happy that not only was Harry permanently out of the reach of any of the manipulations he had created with Severus Snape, but several other students had taken the same steps. It was a concern of Dumbledore's that once the information and reasons reached the parents more of them would be instructing their children to make a similar oath. He already knew that most parents and older former students of Snape's hated the man.

When he opened the door, Dumbledore was surprised to see the condition of the room. It was much cleaner than the potions classroom Severus occupied. The students were chatting on their individual potions and chatting freely about what they were doing. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville and surprisingly the Weasley twins, were all present and working on different individual potions. Severus had always said that it was impossible to keep the students focused if they were working on different projects.

Neville was working on what appeared to be a wart removal cream, Ron was working on a minor burn paste, Hermione a pepper up potion, Fred and George were dividing their time between a cauldron of Skele-grow and a cauldron of Blood-Replenishing Potion.

To Dumbledore it looked as if Harry was working on a hair restoring potion, but in truth he was working on that as well as a cauldron of pain reliever, a cauldron of bruise-healing paste and helping Master Darkmath show Apprentice Stephenson the proper way to make the Wolfsbane Potion variation that Darkmath and Stormbrow Deatheyes made as part of Stormbrow's master achievement. The variant had a powerful pain numbing and relieving component, allowing for a nearly pain-free transformation.

What Dumbledore did not know was that instead of the class being taught by Master Darkmath and to a lesser degree Apprentice Stephenson, it was taught equally by Darkmath and Harry, with Stephenson helping the others as needed. What Dumbledore did not like was that instead of the class being based on the weaker standards set by the British Ministry of Magic, the class was being held to the higher standards of the International Confederation of Wizards. Which would mean that by the end of their 1st year, this class would be the equivalent of a Hogwarts year three in potions and in the case of the twins year five if not six, making them eligible to take that OWL early.

In truth, by the end of the year the 1st years, other than Harry, the others would be able to take the 4th year potions final and pass with an O, while the twins would be able to pass the NEWTS with the same score. Harry would gain his Grand Mastery for not only teaching a class of assorted level students, but teaching an Apprentice at the same time.

Dumbledore left the class without a word, he was not happy. He was considering locking the owlery so more students would not be encouraged to leave Severus' class, but after a moment of consideration, decided that doing that would cause more problems than it would solve.

Once the chime of the second ward was heard, notifying them that Dumbledore was finally gone; Harry smiled and with a wave of his hand dropped the goblin illusions on the potions. They then revealed different potions than what Dumbledore had seen. Ron and Neville were working on Cruciatus Reliever potion; While Hermione was brewing the Polyjuice Potion. The twins were working on the potion base for what would eventually become Canary Creams.

Harry and Darkmath let the twins use a portion of their time developing potion based pranks, with the understanding that they would also take time to brew the medical based potions that were appropriate for the year they were supposed to be studying, as well making an antidote for their pranks. The twins found that sometimes the antidote was easier to find than the prank. They decided that they would use their regular potions time to continue the basics of potions, while using their free time that corresponded with the 1st year's potions to work on pranks and healing potions.

Harry had offered to help them get their own Joke shop started either after their OWLS or NEWTS, depending on what the twins wanted and their grades. He was encouraging them to focus on Defense, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology as well as potions, with a secondary focus on Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. He had spent two days in compressed time showing them not only the marauder's journals, but how they combined those disciplines to create their pranks.

He then cinched the deal for them by saying, "With seven OWLs and the same number of NEWTs, each, you will be able please your mother, start the joke shop and not be as big a prat as Percy."

_**Next Chapter:**__** Halloween for Trolls and a difference.**_


	7. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters. I am not making money off of them nor do I intend to do so. I am only borrowing them for a brief time.

A/N "Spoken English", 'Thoughts', {Gobbledegook}

Chapter Six

As the first of October arrived, Severus Snape was not happy, no not happy at all. It seemed that the students seemed to be leaving his class one or two at a time, once or twice a week since the beginning of term. The interloping Potion Master had gone as far to expand his class so that he now was overseeing two classrooms, apparently Master Darkmath allowed his apprentice Stephenson to teach the second classroom.

Finally that Friday, he had enough and decided to audit the main potion class. Snape rushed in to his classroom and in a rough voice demanded with a snap. "Go to the library and work on the next three chapters in your potions book, outline the chapters, and describe the potions listed and their uses in your own words. Be prepared to hand them in during next class, now get OUT!"

He then stalked up the stairs from the dungeon, He passed the Great Hall and down the hallway toward the ground level potion classes. The potion master did not notice the wards he crossed. With a twist of his wand, he cast a spell that forced the new potion classroom to crash open loudly, with the intention of startling the students, hoping to create a potions accident.

Potion Master Darkmath glared at Snape coldly and demanded, "May I help you Potion Master Snape?"

Snape noticed that none of the students nor the potion instructors jumped when he opened the door in what had become his trademark form of entry. In fact it seemed that the students were not even bothered by him appearing in their classroom. They just continued to work on their individual potions, as if he was not even there.

"As the Potion Master employed by Hogwarts it is well within my rights to audit the class of any potion lesson given in the castle," Snape said sharply with a sneer.

"Of course," Darkmath said with a forced nodding bow. "The students are presently working on between two and four potions each. These class times is specifically dealing with their ability to multi-task and complete the required potions at the same time." He then explained.

Snape nodded in understanding but was internally shocked. The class that he had taken on multi-task potion making was in his fifth year and because he felt the students were such dunderheads, he pushed it back in his own teaching to the sixth year. He watched in shock as mere first years appeared to be able to do the class with very little prompting or outside help.

It was then he noticed that Harry was not only working on his own potions but also seemed to be helping the others when asked. Snape approached Potter's table and noticed that he was dealing with five separate potions not the stated maximum of four. "What is Potter doing making five potions?" He asked with a growl.

"_**Mr.**_ Potter has previously shown the ability to complete the required work for this class time and as such was given the additional responsibilities of an additional potion as well as assisting the other students." Darkmath said coldly.

Snape then noticed small rectangular bits of yellow muggle paper sticking on the tables beside each cauldron. With a careless flick of his hand, he snatched one of the from the table Longbottom was presently working at, he was surprised that only a small portion of the top of the paper actually was stuck to the table and came off without trouble. He read the paper and was shocked to see that it was the recipe for the potion next to it.

Without saying a word to the snarky man, Harry walked over to a corkboard that hung on the far wall, which was covered in similar yellow papers. With just a brief glimpse he withdrew another yellow paper and walked back to Neville's table. Silently he stuck the paper beside the cauldron on the other side of the table and then silently returned to his own potions.

Snape inwardly snarled and was beginning to prepare to berate Harry when he was cut off by Darkmath. "Those are the instructions for the nearby cauldron. By taking it off the table, you could cause him to miss a step or have an incomplete step; you could have just endangered us all."

It was then that Snape noticed the potion was a modified version of the Crucatus potion. A potion he himself created. He then blanched, knowing that it was a tricky potion to create and a single missed step would have created an explosion that would have been deadly for the whole room.

"My apologies, Potion Master Darkmath," Snape said with a truly contrite bow of his head. "I was unaware of the reason for the muggle paper."

Darkmath pointed to the corkboard that Harry had removed the copy of the potion and began to explain, "That is our class work board and it is divided by the students' name. Under each name, it has the recipes for the potions that the student is expected to complete individually. The list on the board is updated every two weeks."

He then showed the small papers at the top of the board. "Each student is required to complete each potion shown, but in any order they desire."

He then showed Snape where the top recipe was missing. "Harry took the master recipe, so that it would not count against Neville for your behavior."

"Those papers are known as sticky notes; a small portion of the top has a substance that is slightly sticky on it, which allows it to be placed on a wide variety of surfaces, on a short temporary basis. When the student has completed the assignment, they place it on the vial of potion that they have created and it is then marked, both for the attempt and the finished product."

By the time the class was finished Snape was furious that the class was so well ordered without the teacher hovering or making demands. He was even further incensed when he could find nothing wrong with the style of teaching, what was taught or any of the students behavior. Snape decided that he was going to enjoy a good Fire-whiskey that evening, a lot of Fire-whiskey.

~o0o~

That next day was Quidditch between Slytherin and Gryffindor. Harry was enjoying his first game until his broom bucked underneath him. Harry went from scared to furious almost as fast as his broom would go from zero to its top speed; someone was trying to curse his broom. After a quick thought and with a nearly silent grumbling voice Harry tied the protective nature of his broom's magic in with a Goblin spell created to force magic to rebound, it was a quick fix, but it would work in the short term.

A small sphere of nearly invisible magic enclosed him and the broom briefly. It flickered and then disappeared; it had cut the flow of magic and returned it to the sender.

With a brief smile Harry noticed that a group of people were now fighting a small fire in the teacher's box. He wondered for a brief moment if it was Snape or the other teacher Quirrell that had been cursing his broom. The spelled seemed to have centered between the two men.

Thirty minutes later the Gryffindor common room was flooded with sounds of riotous party. What no one noticed was that Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione were in the corner of the room, under a dual-directional silencing spell discussing the game. They finally decided that both Snape and Quirrell deserved to be watched a bit closer. Harry ended the conversation by reminding everyone that he was going to be visiting his goblin parents for the rest of the afternoon.

~o0o~

By the end of dual compressed time, each one of the students that was working on their muggle-level classes had finished the requirements for the sixth grade. Neville and Ron had finished the seventh and Hermione was halfway through with the eighth. They were each a full year or year and half above their classmates in magic as well.

As a surprise for all the hard work his friends had been putting out, Harry decided to show them his level of training. The training room was expanded to its fullest capability and Harry had it create a wall that could be seen through from one side only, and allowed his friends to watch from behind it. On the other side he had the room create a simulated version of Diagon Alley.

The battle the followed completely shocked, surprised and awed Harry's friends in the power revealed. The room recreated a battle that had occurred in Diagon Alley during Voldemort's last uprising. The wizards had lost many lives because the Aurors arrived too late to help many of them. Harry on the other hand was able to decimate the Death Eaters, until he came across the simulated Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy. Harry was slightly injured by the simulations before the history recorded that they disapperated, leaving the battle just as the Auror force arrived.

Harry was furious with himself. His thoughts turned on himself. How was he going to be able to defeat Voldemort if he could not even defeat simulated versions of the insane madman's lieutenants? It was not until he saw Neville's face that his thoughts took a different path.

"Bloody hell Harry, that was wicked," Neville breathed out, his eyes wide with happiness and astonishment.

"I failed!" Harry spat.

"Failed?" Neville responded in confusion. "That battle killed several hundred innocent men, women and children when it happened back then." He then pointed to a board that scored the exercise. It read that only two innocent lives were lost and they were the two women that were in the street when the Death Eaters arrived and were killed within seconds of their arrival. The other side showed the number of the Death Eaters hurt or killed and it showed all but two were either dead or injured to the point they could not continue fighting.

"That looks nearly perfect to me," Hermione said softly.

"Yeah but that also means that I cannot take on the two most power enemies and Voldemort," Harry huffed.

"Yet!" Ron, Hermione, Neville, Fred, George and the others all chorused at the same time.

"Harry, you do not yet have the experience that they do," Hermione said shaking her head. "Even with us doing all this compressed time, it is not going to happen overnight or even a fortnight from now."

For the next hour they discussed the situation, reminding Harry that even with the compressed time, he was not physically or magically as mature as the youngest Death Eater. Harry finally calmed down enough to understand that what they were saying was the truth, even if he did not like it. 

~o0o~

Harry was furious, He could now see the lie that was Quirinus Quirrell, just as the man appeared to faint. It is extremely rare to faint forward and that was what the man had done, Harry now knew his was faking. With a flick of his hand, Harry sent a nearly invisible curse at the now prone man, which would make his fake tick and stuttering a reality for at least a month. It was then that Harry's blood ran cold, He remembered, Hermione was in the library working on a project for their extra Transfiguration studies.

"Hermione is still in the library," Harry hissed to Ron and Neville.

With a silent nod from each of them, they used the chaos around them to slip out of the Great Hall, just as Dumbledore set off a cannon blast from his wand. With a quick wave of his hand, Harry disillusioned Ron, Neville and himself as they rushed toward the library. Hermione on the other hand had just finished up the work she needed to complete and was in the process of gathering her materials together so she could sneak into the kitchen for a late dinner, when she heard an ear splitting scream.

Harry, Ron and Neville each heard the same scream and worried that it was Hermione. They then ran toward the location of the scream, which was a level above the library. It was not until they bolted into the room that the scream came from that the boys realized it was the third floor girl's bathroom.

The scene that met their eyes was horrific. The room was in shambles with broken sinks, toilets, shattered privacy partitions and massive founts of water coming from the former toilets, causing the floor to flood. The most horrific sight was that of the smelly Troll, which had a small girl by the foot in one hand, preparing to bring down it massive club with the other hand.

Harry instantly began pulling massive amounts of energy from the ambient magic of the school. With the voice of a young general, Harry spoke, "Bombarda Maxima on the club and head on three!"

The noise was enough to distract the stupid Troll and the command was enough for both Ron and Neville to be prepared to snap off the curse. Neville took the aim at the club, while Ron took aim at the Trolls head. Harry on the other hand had a red gleaming aura surrounding his right hand, while a pure white aura surrounded his left.

Harry's eyes where now crackling with emerald green lightning. He was vaguely aware that they had been joined by Hermione and spoke with the same commanding voice. "One…Hermione prepare a cushioning charm on the floor, on three."

Hermione absently nodded and aimed at the floor.

"Two…Three!" Harry then roared.

The barrage of spells was almost blinding to the eyes. Harry silently threw the white light from his left hand at the still struggling girl. Neville's scream of, "_**Bombarda Maxima!**_"__followed by Ron's yell of the same, "_**Bombarda Maxima**_" was dazzling in itself as each flew toward their target. Harry let loose the red energy from his right hand an instant later. Hermione's spell was neither loud nor flashy but was protective in nature and quickly worked.

Neville's spells massive blast destroyed the Trolls club, raining down splinters in its destruction. Ron's struck the Troll in the head at the same time as Harry's hit the creature in the chest. The combined spell power was enough that the Troll was flung backward and buried several inches into the stone wall of the restroom.

They would not find out until later that the Troll died from a broken neck, a crushed ribcage and a broken back, Ron's spell breaking its neck, Harry's crushing its ribs and the wall destroying its back.

The girl was flung from the Troll's grip and fell screamingly toward the floor. Between Harry's protective spell and Hermione's cushioning spell, she was not hurt, though she passed out from fright.

Just then the bathroom door was flung open to reveal Professors McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell. Harry and Hermione ignored the professors, both of them more intent on making sure the girl was okay. Hermione whispered to Harry, "This is Sally-Ann Perks, Hufflepuff."

Harry nodded and began a quick medical scan, the light of which was thankfully blocked by Hermione's body and to a lesser degree by Ron and Neville. Both Ron and Neville took the time to have the teacher focus on them as they told them what had happened.

McGonagall was not happy that her favorite lions had been involved with the troll, but she was proud of their team effort. "Twenty points from Gryffindor for not notifying a teacher." She snapped off. Then in a softer voice, "Fifteen points to Gryffindor for protecting a fellow student, each."

Harry and Hermione both refused to leave until Sally-Ann was taken to the hospital wing. Apparently the teachers had been so focused on the Troll and the damage that they forget about her. The only worry Harry now had was he expected to be summoned to Dumbledore's office over this, and he was not surprised.

The next afternoon he was indeed summoned to the Headmaster's office. When he arrived at the Gargoyle sentry to Dumbledore's office, he again smiled, knocked on the goblin's head and announced, "Stoney old friend, I am back, Dumbledore sent for me, can you let me in?"

The Gargoyle immediately jumped to the side allowing Harry access to the Headmaster's office. Harry's cool calm exterior was almost broken when he entered the office, not only was Dumbledore there but so was Professor Sprout, Professor McGonagall, Sally-Anne and a couple that by all appearances was Sally-Anne's parents. By looking at the faces of everyone there Harry could accurately deduce that Dumbledore had visibly jumped or flinched when Harry knocked on the stone guardian.

"Come in Harry, Tea? Sherbet lemon?" Dumbledore asked quickly in secession, not really expecting Harry to take the muggle candy.

"No thank you sir," Harry responded softly with his eyes looking directly at Dumbledore's neck and not his eyes.

"Do have a seat," Dumbledore said, waving his wand and creating a soft burgundy overstuffed chair for Harry. Once Harry was seated he continued. "Mr. and Mrs. Perks were informed that their daughter now owes you a life debt and they are worried."

"Why does she owe me a life debt?" Harry asked. "I was not the only one that saved her last night."

"It is due to the fact that it was your directions and quick thinking that allowed for her to be saved." Dumbledore began to explain. "Being that you were the leader of the rescue party, you shouldered the greater risk and as such the greater reward."

"Sally-Anne's parents are scared that you would call in the debt for something torrid, unseemly or something against her will." Professor Spout said cutting across Dumbledore's extremely apparent flowery and over-worded narrative.

"NEVER!" Harry howled in anger. "I would never do that to anyone, besides I am only eleven, I am still too young to like girls as anything beyond friends."

Harry could tell that the parents did not believe him and he wanted to growl. He then thought of a way to make everyone know he meant it and quickly stood taking out his wand. The only one in the room that was prepared for Harry antics was Professor McGonagall.

"I Harry James Potter" He began, then whispered his goblin name, "Swear on my life and magic that I will never try and force Sally-Anne Perks to do anything against her will and I will never actively use the life debt she believes that is between us for any reason, so mote it be." The white nimbus of magic surrounded Harry and settled, sealing the oath.

The parents were so shocked by Harry oath that they nearly miss the next thing Harry said softly. "The only thing I would ever ask would be her friendship." His voice cracked with emotions as he fought the urge to cry. He did not want any of his friends to ever think they owed him or to even be started like this had, it felt cheapened and wrong.

"We are sorry for not believing you Mr. Potter," Mr. Perks softly said, his voice showing that he knew what Harry was dealing with and felt the wrongness of what had just been forced to happened.

Harry wanted to leave the room, but a quick look at the Headmaster crushed that instantly as his head quickly shook in the negative. In Harry's mind it was another reason to dislike the old wizard. He was able to control his emotions and through them his magic for the few minutes that it took for the Perks and Professor Spout to leave the office. His eyes flashed with anger as Dumbledore sat quietly watching him and not saying anything.

"I need you to tell me what spells were used last night on the Troll, Harry." Dumbledore finally asked. He had failed to get Harry to speak first and was able to see that Harry was only get more and more angry as the minutes passed.

Harry glared at the old man and said in a cold military-like report giving voice. "Ron and Neville used a 'Bombarda' curse each on the Troll and its club, Hermione used a cushioning charm on the floor and I used 'Accio' a moment after using my own 'Bombarda' curse. Harry explained. In reality it was not a complete lie, but it was not the whole truth either. He only hoped that it was close enough to what he was sure the others had said during their interrogation.

"And how is it that you children know those spells?" Dumbledore asked.

"We are part of a self-study group that includes students from 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th years." Harry answered truthfully. "We learn the spells at the same time the older students learn them." This was again the truth, as far as Harry was revealing.

"I see," Dumbledore said stroking his chin in a thoughtful gesture. "Well I believe that having such an inventive study group deserves fifty points to Gryffindor."

What Dumbledore did not know was that while he was attempting and failing to enter Harry's mind, Harry had succeeded in entering his. The two pieces of information out of the dozens Harry found that shocked and angered him was that Dumbledore was trying to test him and the test revolved around the security of the Sorcerer's Stone.

Harry walked out of the Headmaster's office with a plan to recover the stone, replace it with a fake and return the stone to its rightful owner, all while under the nose of the manipulative old man. What he saw of the old man's planned obstacles would not be too much of a problem for him to overcome.

~o0o~

A black clad Harry eased into the third Floor corridor. He took a quick assessment of the Cerberus that was guarding the area and then flung a "_**Quick Sleep**_" spell which was a Goblin based sleeping spell at the monstrosity. The spell was one that goblin children were taught to be used on their sometimes rambunctious Massics, it knocked the animals out for about three hours and he had used it on Havoc several times before. Harry estimated that it would do the same for the Cerberus, but last only an hour, leaving the animal no worse off than before.

Harry gently moved to large dog's paw from the obvious trapdoor. He then cast a small light spell into the dark area below. Harry sighed in frustration when it did not reveal anything. With a shake of his head, he then transformed into his Phoenix form and flew slowly down into the darkness.

'A Devils Snare' Harry growled silently to himself. It was a plant that most first years knew about and the fire of a phoenix could get through without any real issue. He then came across the keys flying around the room with a broom floating in the air. Harry then realized that at least those two traps were geared toward himself and Neville. With a quick flame hop, Harry appeared on the other side of the door without even disturbing the broom, keys or the door itself.

He marveled out the spellwork that was required to create the massive chessboard, but shook his head as he added Ron's specialty to the list of obvious traps. Harry took to the air and attempted to fly over the heads of the chess pieces. He was surprised when several of the pieces came to life and attempted to knock him out of the air. He quickly had to dodge the flailing swords and polearms of the different pieces, but he successfully made it across the room and to the next door.

Even without opening the door he was able to detect what the next problem was, he could smell the distinct odor of a public restroom and knew that there was another Troll behind the door. He flamed into the room and was proven correct. In flaming into the room and not opening the door he surprised the extremely stupid Troll who was focused on the door. Using the surprise of the beast as a distraction, Harry was able to get into the next room without a problem.

The next room confused Harry, there appeared to be nothing in the room except a table with several different sized potion vials. He returned to his human form and examined the table. A small note was on the table. When Harry picked up the parchment, he immediately knew what the trap was, as the room filled with flames. 'Snape actually can create a logic puzzle?' Harry thought sarcastically. 'Must be geared toward Hermione' He then added silently. With a huff, Harry returned to his Phoenix form and flew over the flames, continuing his journey.

The last room was an oval amphitheatre in its design, which must have been used as some form of classroom in centuries past. Harry could tell that the room's trap had not been finished as it only had the most simple of wards. In the center of the room was a small podium sized pillar on top of which sat a small blood red unfinished stone. Harry examined the podium and the stone extensively both for spells, curses and hexes and wards before he approached.

The magic of the stone was easy to fake as it did not appear to be a very powerful object. Harry took the time to copy the stone both in appearance and magical signature, before dawning a pair of dragon hide gloves, extricating a bottomless bag from a hidden pocket and then picking up the stone. He quickly dropped the original stone in the bag. He then placed the bag and the gloves back in his pocket and flamed out of the room. Harry had a Floo call to make.

~o0o~

Harry reappeared in his new trunk next to the fireplace. He quickly reached for a handful of Floo powder and threw it into the flames. "_**Chateau Flamel**_" He said with force and then whispered the goblin password that had been given to Gringotts so they could communicate with the old Alchemist.

Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel were old and respected clients of Gringotts and over the centuries had become known as 'Goblin Friend' a very select title for the Goblins. As a recognized member of the Goblin society, Harry not only respected the couple but would do anything he could to protect their property and assets.

Harry heard a feminine greeting in a soft French accent, "Yes hello, who is calling?"

"Madam Flamel, my name is Harry James Potter and I am also known as Stormbrow Deatheyes of the Goblins," Harry began. "I am calling to ask if you allowed Albus Dumbledore access to any of your more private property."

Harry then heard a more masculine voice cursing in French. The next moment the head of Nicolas Flamel was in the fire looking very angry.

"What has that old man been saying now?" He asked briskly.

Harry smiled slightly at the heat of the man's words. He then showed the stone through the fire. "The connection is not secure, may I come through to your location to discuss what has happened. You can verify who and what I am by contacting Sharpmaw at Gringotts."

"Give me ten minutes boy and I will check with him." Flamel grunted. The Floo connection was then cut.

Seven minutes later the fireplace flared with green flames. Harry watched with mild interest to see who contacting his Floo, knowing that the Flamel's would be on time and not early. He jumped toward the fire when he saw his father's face in the flames.

{What has happened child that you contacted Mr. Flamel?} Sharpmaw asked in a voice that showed he was not only concerned about Harry but was also concerned about Gringotts client being disturbed.

Harry tossed a different Floo powder into the fire to make the connection secure and then responded. {Dumbledore apparently thought to test me by placing what appears to be Mr. Flamel's stone in the school under ridiculous protections that any average first year student could get past with very little thought. I contact Mr. Flamel to verify that it is indeed his stone and not a fake and if it is his stone, return his property to him.}

Sharpmaw nodded his head but his face remained stony and impassive. {That was good and appropriate thinking} He said softly. {You are free to travel to his residence at the proscribed time son of my heart.}

{Thank you father of my heart} Harry responded.

{Your mother demands that you visit for dinner this week} Sharpmaw relayed, his face breaking into a goblin smile. {She plans of making Fullus'Gak on Wednesday}

Harry's eyes went wide and he then smiled at the idea of eating one of his favorite Goblin foods, {Tell her I will be there.} They quickly ended the call.

At exactly ten minutes after the original call to the Flamel's, Harry called them again.

The demeanor of the older man was completely changed. His face showed confusion and kindness when he answered the Floo. "Stormbrow Deatheyes of the Goblins, you are welcome to Floo to my house this day" He said formally.

Harry nodded and then stood up. With an additional amount of Floo added to the fire, he commanded, "_**Chateau Flamel**_"

~o0o~

The Flamel Chateau was a three story home on a busy street in Paris. The inside of the house was warm and cheery while still having the feel of the great age of its owners. The sitting room where the fireplace was located was done in medium and dark browns with comfortable furnishings and nice non-moving pastoral paintings on the wall. The fireplace itself was larger than normal as it had at one time had been used for cooking small meals.

A large flume of green flames exploded from the fireplace, jetting out and upward as Harry was disgorged from the floo like a human cannonball. A dizzy and disoriented Harry stopped himself and attempted to stand just before he hit an ornate settee.

He heard a gentle but masculine laugh as he shook off the effects. "Worse case of Floo allergy I have seen in a long time" Nicholas said as he continued to chuckle at the still dizzy Harry. He was a tall older man with salt and pepper dark hair, steel blue eyes and a short well trimmed goatee. He was dressed in Persian made suit with a silk tie. He had a simple wedding band on his left ring finger and an ornate ring with a red stone on his right ring finger. In a word, not at all looking like his true six-hundred and sixty-five years of age.

"Floo allergy?" Harry asked. "I never have had trouble like that before." Proving that it was not his first time traveling by Floo.

"A lot of the time the allergy happens as you enter puberty," Perenelle interjected softly. "It shows that you are powerful and will be even more powerful one day." Her matronly face and light grey hair which was in a loose bun counterbalanced her floor length formal dress and elaborately designed broach with a red stone inlayed.

Harry nodded and then stood in such a way to show he was becoming business-like. "Dumbledore appears to be trying to test me by placing what appears to be your stone in the school and allowing it to be a target to darker individuals."

"May I see the stone in question please," Nicholas asked softly.

Harry immediately brought out the bottomless bag that held the stone from his pants pocket and carefully withdrew the stone in question.

Nicholas took the stone from Harry and placed it on a nearby table. He then withdrew a jeweler's glass and began examining the stone. After a couple of minutes, he began to chuckle softly. He then asked, "I would hazard a guess that when you obtained this stone you replaced it with a fake of your own design?"

"Yes sir," Harry responded. "I even attempted to duplicate its magical signature." He then asked, "Is this your stone?"

Nicholas smiled and continued to chuckle as he answered, "Yes and no." He then immediately began to explain by asking a question. "Do you think that I was able to create the stone of legend without making others that were similar, but were at the same time failures?"

"I am sure you failed a multitude of times and created a vast number of stones that did not work or had capabilities that were not expected and could be classified as failures." Harry responded.

"You would be correct," Nicholas responded. "In fact I made a total of seven of what I call promising near misses before creating the true stone." He then picked up the stone in question and said, "This is near miss number four, if I remember correctly. If it had a name I would call it 'The Stone of Healing'." He then tossed it to Harry, who caught it easily.

"That stone has the ability to heal, much like the power of phoenix tears, but it cannot give immortality or make gold out of anything." Nicholas explained. "It is worthless to anyone but a Healer or Potions Master."

Harry began to grin, he then asked, "Do you think Dumbledore knows?"

"I doubt it," Perenelle interjected. "He is too blinded by his plans and manipulations to check and make sure, plus most people never consider that there are other stones of various powers out there and assume that what you have is the real thing."

"So you still have the real stone under your control and it is safe then?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes, it has not been out of our possession since it was made." Nicholas admitted with a slight grin.

Harry immediately figured that the man was speaking literally and as such he suspected that the ring and/or the broach they wore were the real stone, not that Harry actually cared. He then began to hand the stone in his hand back to Nicholas.

"I heard you were a Potions Master," Nicholas responded. "You keep it and make some healing potions with it.

Over the next three hours Harry and Flamels talked about potions, alchemy and life in general. Harry was given a few 'starter' ideas on how to use the stone in potions, including placing it in pure water overnight to create a potion that would have the same results as Phoenix tears but at half the strength and could be substituted in other potions with that power exchange ratio. When he finally left, Harry had made good friends out of the Flamels and they agreed to regular correspondence.

~o0o~

Dumbledore was not happy with the way his plans for Harry Potter were going. It seemed to the old man that the boy was either ignoring the clues he had placed about the Sorcerer's Stone or was too thick headed to realize anything about it. Regardless he needed to find a way to get the boy to try and protect the stone. The old headmaster was positive that Quirrell was either working with or at worst possessed by Voldemort's spirit. The boy must try and protect the stone at all costs. What the manipulative old man did not know was Harry had already cleared the problem and was now fully aware of the man's reasons and was close to seeing what Quirrell was doing.

Harry and his friends were fully aware of what the headmaster was trying to do, even so they enjoyed the time that he spent with Hagrid, drinking tea and appearing to eat the man's rock cakes. Of course they hid the inedible cakes in their pockets, but they would never tell Hagrid that they almost broke their teeth on them; they liked the giant man too much for that. Over the last few weeks Hagrid's hut became the favorite place for the youngsters to hang out.


	8. Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters. I am not making money off of them nor do I intend to do so. I am only borrowing them for a brief time.

A/N "Spoken English", 'Thoughts', {Gobbledegook}

Chapter Seven

Christmas at Hogwarts were known to be cold, snowy and the dorms tended to empty so that there were usually fewer than two dozen students remaining at the school during that time. Unfortunately for Harry's group of friends the holiday began in the middle of the week. None of them were willing to cut out the whole week's worth of compressed time training, not even cutting it short by a few days. So it was decided that they take things even further than they had in the past. After a quick note to Harry's Goblin parents, everything was set.

The week would begin with everyone in the larger of Harry's trunks; they would spend the three weeks in compressed time as if it was nothing more than a typical week. Once that was completed, they would go back in time to restart the week in regular time. Those going home would do so the regular way and continue on as if nothing else was going on. Those that were expected to remain at the school on the other hand were going to be dividing their time even further.

Harry, Ron, Fred and George were the only ones remaining from their group, as far as the school was concerned, though this was far from the truth. Harry and his smaller group took the portal to Gringotts where they were met by Neville and Hermione; they then immediately went into a 20:1 time compression cavern for the three weeks of the Winter Holiday. In there they would then spend the equivalent of 60 weeks learning everything that they were working on at Hogwarts, plus Ron, The Twins, Neville and Hermione would be learning more martial arts and their potions lessons would continue, and they would even continue their Muggle based classes, gaining each of them an additional year and a half toward their Muggle classes.

It was during this time that Hermione found out that she was related to the famous Potioneer Hector Dagworth-Granger, it was found out that she was his great-grand niece, from a side of the family that had three generations of Squibs. Hermione was saddened to find out that the other side of the family had died out after wasting all of the man's hard earned money. She was happy to find out that technically she was classified as a half-blood not a Muggle-born, even though she loved her Muggle roots.

Harry made sure that the Daily Prophet was notified of her true heritage. The article was worded in a way that cast a question on the belief that Muggle-borns had no connection to the Wizarding world. That article had two purposes, one to help change the way others thought about blood purity and by encouraging the Muggle-born to take the test, which of course added money to Gringotts.

After spending a year and two months learning in compressed time, the group again went back in time, Neville and Hermione returned to their families who had been waiting in a different part of the bank for less than fifteen minutes, while Harry, Ron and the twins returned to Hogwarts though the portal. Those returning to Hogwarts then went into the smaller trunk and spent their time relaxing with only a slight amount of training. Finally they went back in time again and spent the time in regular-time at Hogwarts, making it appear as if they had never left to begin with. Overall it was an exhausting time for Harry and his friends.

It was during that time Ron asked a question that had been confusing him for months, "Harry how much time have we actually been using?"

Harry smiled and began to explain. "Well for the first six weeks of school we were living three weeks for every week in real time, making the six weeks, twenty-four instead. For the last two months we have been living five weeks for every week in real time, making that eight weeks into forty-eight weeks. So just counting school time alone we have gained, One year and about six months. Add that to the time we spent extra in the time chamber and it totals to be about two years and eight months."

He then smiled and added, "We only have to worry about aging when we go back in time, since the beginning of school you have gained about one year's worth of extra age." He then paused at the confused look on Ron's face and explained. "Think of the time we spend in compressed time as mental and emotional age, while the age we gain due to going back in time and in normal time as physical. If we average the same for the next five years, when you take your OWLS you will have the mental age of someone in the early thirties and the physical body of someone in their early twenties and if we are able to continue it during the summer the effect will be even greater."

"But how would we be able to hide all the changes?" Ron asked.

Harry smiled and responded, "There are two ways, either a Goblin glamour or a modified de-aging potion that does not strip knowledge, power or talent. We won't have to worry about it until the start of next year."

Ron then realized Harry had been going back in time and compressing time much more than they had so he asked, "I realize that you have a lot more time both compressed and by going back in time, how are you hiding it?"

Harry laughed and responded, "Your right I have an additional physical year more than you do, plus about twenty years of mental aging." He then calmed his mind and allowed the metamorphic energy release his true form. The eleven year old form of Harry Potter melted, stretched and grew into the fourteen year old almost fifteen year old true form of Harry. "I use a combination of Metamorphmagi abilities and Goblin glamour." He responded by revealing his armbands for the first time. "Usually when I have them active, I have both of them active. So if someone hits me with a revealing spell nothing happens. The only times I use them is when I have to fully concentrate or I am asleep, otherwise I try and use my Metamorphmagi abilities."

He then smacked himself on the head and cussed in Gobbledegook. "I forgot that I was supposed to set up it to look like I receive Muggle contacts over the holidays so I can finally get rid of these stupid glasses." He then hopped up from his chair and hurried to contact Sharpmaw.

Fifteen minutes later, Ron, Harry and Sharpmaw had it planned out so Harry would receive the supposed contacts in the mail the next day. Finally after everything was finalized, Harry and Ron noticed the presents at the end of their beds.

Harry was happy to see that he actually had gifts from all of his friends, he was even more grateful to see presents from his extended Goblin family and he was curious and concerned when he spotted a gift without the name of the sender. Opening the card he immediately knew that it was from Dumbledore and he was furious.

Ron noticed and asked, "What's wrong mate?"

Harry lifted the package and simply said, "This was my father's and Dumbles decided that now was the time to return it, instead of either the beginning of the year or when I received my school letter." Harry then huffed, "He is trying to use it as a way to get me under his thumb, he is using it as pure manipulation."

"Well what is it then?" Ron asked. He then noticed that Harry was waving his hand over the package and mumbling in Gobbledegook.

Harry cast every form of detection spell he knew, 'Curses and Jinx…No, Compulsion spells…No, Loyalty spells…No. Tracing and location spells…Yes,' He thought quickly as he cast the spells. There were two tracking and one location spell on the cloak, all of which had been cast in the last month. Harry was furious but he decided to not do anything to alert the old man, but he also decided to free himself and the cloak of their influence.

Harry explained what he found to Ron, who then watched in silence as Harry spent the next fifteen minutes slowly and methodically disconnecting each of the spells from the cloak without destroying them. Both of the tracking spells were placed on Harry's bed, one on the frame and the other on the upper mattress, so that Dumbledore would think Harry hid the cloak under his mattress. Harry then placed the location spell on the lower mattress itself to complete the illusion.

He looked at Ron and smiled, "When school is out I will place them on three different school owls and send them each on long distance missions…Let the old man spend time following them then." He and Ron both giggled at the thought.

Harry then sent the cloak to Sharpmaw so it could be placed in the Potter Vault. He also sent a note asking that an Heirloom spell was placed on it, so it would return to the vault if it ever was out of the hands of a Potter again. He also wrote a quick note to himself to check Hedwig for tracking spells and to get her outfitted with the goblin's anti-spell token collar.

~o0o~

The next morning as expected a large Tawny owl delivered Harry's new contacts. Harry made a production of acting like an excited 11 year old by nearly squealing, "My contacts!"

No one but Ron understood the reference and Dumbledore asked. "My boy, what are these Konkacks you speak of," His eyes twinkling and his grandfatherly act in full force.

"Sir, _**contacts**_ in this case are a Muggle replacement for glasses." Harry explained maintaining his youthful exuberance. "They are made of a material that allows them to be placed on the eye directly and allows air to pass through, they do not hurt and allow me to see as well if not better than if I was wearing glasses." Harry then began bouncing in his seat. "That means they cannot be knocked off like my glasses, when I play Quidditch." Harry was really enjoying playing the excitable pre-teen for his unsuspecting audience.

Dumbledore was not happy as the lack of glasses would make Harry appear less like his father to the public and the use of a Muggle replacement for the glasses would be looked at as an insult to the Purebloods. "While that sounds well and good. I must insist that these _**contacts**_ be examined by Madam Pomfrey and Madam Hooch may have issue with their use in Quidditch.

Both Witches in question were at breakfast and looked at Dumbledore as if he had lost his mind. Madam Pomfrey spoke first, her voice showing her mood, "I am well aware that Muggles used these as an alternative to wearing glasses, we already have several Muggle-born student who use them. If Mr. Potter is willing to allow me to verify that they are equal or better than his old glasses then I have no issue with their use."

Madam Hooch spoke next, "Because Madam Pomfrey knows about them, as long as they do not have any spells on them to enhance his sight to the point of giving him an unfair advantage in Quidditch there will be no problem on my side as well."

Harry sighed, everything that was brought up, including Dumbledore's unspoken reservations had already been discussed with Sharpmaw the evening before. In the box that the owl had delivered were a set of contacts which were the exact prescription that his eyes required before his eyes were fixed. With a forced smile, Harry opened the package and took out the box of contacts.

"Please do not touch them directly or they will get dirty and I won't be able to wear them." Harry then explained to them. "Even the smallest amount of dust or oil on the fingers can hurt them." He then opened the box, handing the empty to the nurse so she could read it. He then withdrew the small container which held the contacts. He pointed at the small cup-like containers and explained, "Each of these small containers holds an individual contact."

When that was explained the two witches placed the container on the table between them and began a quick battery of test spells to see what magic if any were on them. Harry heard the occasional, "Ingenious" or "Remarkable" muttered by the women as they compared their findings.

Finally Madam Pomfrey straightened up and began the report. "These contacts are as expected, made of a Muggle material and they are the proper strength to correct Mr. Potter's eyesight as shown on my records. I see nothing medically wrong with their use."

Severus Snape was hoping that Madam Hooch would find something wrong with them so that Potter would not be able to play Quidditch, but he soon found that his hopes would be soundly and permanently dashed.

"These things have absolutely no magic on them, the only difference between these and glasses that I can find is that glasses can be knocked off or spelled away from the face, but these cannot without a very specific type of spell and those spells are very illegal to use on a person." Madam Hooch reported, then turned and looked directly at Professor Snape. "Anyone found using such spells would be permanently banned from Quidditch by me and then reported to the DMLE for attempted murder for using such spells on the Quidditch pitch or off."

Hooch's promise of retribution hit the intended mark with Severus Snape. He now knew that if he allowed his snakes to use such a spell that not only would they be in trouble but so would he, as he was the only Slytherin in attendance. Snape sneered at the woman, but remained silent.

~o0o~

Harry spent the normal time of the Christmas Holiday working with his Shadow cat Animagus form. As such he spent the time skulking around the school at night, not only learning more about his abilities, the layout of the school but also the goings on of a couple teachers. Two nights before the end of the holiday Harry found Snape pushing Quirrell into the wall of lesser used hallway.

"You don't want to make me your enemy Quirrell," Snape growled.

"I..I..I" Quirrell stuttered in response.

Just then a large crash was heard nearby and both men turned toward the noise. Snape then glared at the smaller man and said, "We will have another little chat soon, when you had time decide where your loyalties lie." He then quickly hurried toward the sound. He later found that it was Peeves in the charms corridor making a mess.

Harry on the other hand continued down the hallway and found an abandoned classroom with nothing in it except a large mirror. Harry's magical senses found that the mirror was ancient and very powerful. He began reading the runes on the mirror and found that instead of Runes it was English, but written as if from the reverse of the mirror itself. Harry's eyes opened wide as he deciphered the word 'Erised' which was Desire backward. {Oh crap} Harry mumbled to himself in Gobbledegook as he backed away from the mirror. Even the Goblins had heard the legend and curse that was the 'Mirror of Erised'. Now he knew the final piece of the puzzle that was the traps around the now fake Sorcerer's Stone. The traps were a test for Harry, but the mirror was only true barrier for Voldemort or whoever was after the stone, they would never figure out the logic, desire to have without the desire to use, no dark wizard would ever figure it out.

~o0o~

A week after the students returned from Christmas Holiday Harry's group of friends visited Hagrid's hut. Immediately upon entering the Hut, Woods noticed that it was hotter than normal to the point of stifling hot. Harry and Ron both groaned when they heard a noise and after investigating found a large dragon's egg in a pot over the fireplace fire.

"Hagrid, you really need to think about this," Harry said pointing at the egg, getting everyone else's attention. "It is a dragon, they grow quickly in their first year, breath fire and you live in a mostly wooden house. Plus the ministry has made raising them without permits very illegal."

Hermione then added, "It will have to go to either the Goblins or one of the reserves." She then saw Hagrid about to argue and she added, "Otherwise the ministry will come, kill it and fine you a lot of gold."

Hagrid had not even consider the amount of gold he would lose, his thoughts as Hermione planned were focused strictly on the life of the soon to be baby dragon. "Alright then, we needa get 'em to the reserve." Hagrid decided.

"I know someone that can get him out of here tonight," Harry said with a slight smile, while at the same time touch a small stone in his pocket, its twin was owned by Potion Master Darkmath. They were Goblin made and used for emergency locating of friends or family.

Within minutes Darkmath was knocking on the half-giant's door. He spotted the conditions immediately and knew what was going on and only asked, "Goblins or reserve?"

"Reserve," Harry responded.

It was then Ron said, "My brother Charley works at a reserve in Romania."

Darkmath examined the egg closely and said, "That is a good idea, this egg is of a Norwegian Ridgeback and that reserve specializes in them." He then cast a spell on one of his cloaks pockets, making it the perfect place to keep the egg without burning him or the clothes. He then deftly put the egg in that pocket. "I will have it there by tomorrow." He then left as quickly as he came.

Later during their conversations, Hagrid revealed that the Unicorns in the forest were being attacked and he had to spend most of his time looking for what was attacking them. Harry had his suspicions but retained his silence with the intention of looking for himself later that night.

~o0o~

That night the Harry in his raven form flew quickly into the forest, He noticed a silver-like smear of unicorn blood pooled on the ground with small spots heading off in a Northern direction, further and deeper into the forest. The poor creature was badly hurt, but had escaped its attacker, at least for a short time. Harry followed the trail until the trees were so thick he could no longer follow by wings. He changed into the human form and walked a short distance getting ready to change into his shadow cat form, just before he began to change, he came across a small dark clearing.

At the other side of the clearing was the unicorn he had been following, unfortunately it had been downed and looked either dead or nearly so. A caped and hooded figure was over the poor beast feeding on its blood. Without a second thought Harry cast the Goblin spell '_**LANCE OF LIGHT**_' wandlessly. His hand outstretched with his palm facing the figure.

A beam of pure blinding white light exploded from his hand and struck the creature drinking the unicorn's blood. When the light impacted the creature it shrieked in pain and was thrown backward several feet, hitting one of the nearby trees with crack that sounded similar to thunder. In the moment it took Harry to recover his own breath, the creature shook off the effects of the attack and fled into the trees.

Harry turned hearing a noise behind him, thinking he was being attacked from the rear, he turned quickly, ready to fight. Instead of an attack, Harry was surprised to see a small Centaur hunting party. Harry dropped his hand and then bowed to them, though his eyes continued to scan the area in case the creature returned.

"Harry Potter," a dark brown Centaur said softly. "It is dangerous for even someone of your power to be in the forest at this time."

Harry knew that the Centaur's respected the Goblins more than they did humans so he responded in Gobbledegook. {I know of the danger and thank you for the reminder, Noble one. I heard of the harm that had befallen the Unicorns and was attempting to learn what it was with the hopes of ridding your forest of it for those noble beings and the other inhabitants of this forest.}

"Why would you do such a thing for use, Human?" another Centaur said, the obvious loathing in his voice. It did not matter that the human spoke as a Goblin to him, _**it**_ was still a human.

Without being offended Harry continued, {Since my return to the magical world, I have learned many things. Among them I learned that the Goblins have Prophecies about me and my place in our world. I do not see this world as the 'Wizarding World' with Wizards leading everyone else. I see it as the Magical World with every being who resides in it as equals. I was only wishing to help my neighbors rid themselves of a danger.}

"Such pretty meaningless words we have heard them before," The same nasty speaking Centaur interrupted.

Harry was now getting angry but would not show it as that was the Centaur's desire. "I may be known to you as Harry James Potter son of James and Lily, A Wizard," Harry began speaking in English with power and authority, while at the same time slowly reaching for his armband. In that next instant he tapped the desired rune and began to morph. {I am also Stormbrow Deatheyes of the Goblins, son of Sharpmaw} He continued in Gobbledegook as he morphed into his goblin form.

The Centaurs reared back in shock and a bit of fright. Even in their isolation they had heard of Stormbrow Deatheyes of the Goblins, the child of Prophecy.

The first Centaur that had spoken bowed his head slightly and said, "I am Fireze." It was only then that Harry noticed he was chestnut in coloring. Harry bowed the same amount as the centaur.

The formally silent Centaur also bowed his head and said, "I am War Chief Rowan." Harry returned the bow to the honey colored Centaur. Making sure that the bow was slightly lower than the War Chief's as a sign of respect.

Finally the sharp tongued Centaur only partially bowed his head and said, "I am Bane." Harry responded with an equally slight bow and a slight sneer.

{My intentions were as spoken, it was not my intention of invading your hunting grounds or the resting places of your herd.} Stormbrow continued. {I was only looking to stop the evil that has invaded not only your forest but the castle itself.}

"Then you are aware of who and what it is?" Fireze asked.

"Voldemort" Stormbrow answered in English. "The old man has used a magical stone to entice the evil here so that he can see what I am capable of, but his plans are already understood by me and I have taken care of most of the issue."

"So you are aware of his manipulations then?" Rowan asked.

"Yes, the stone that is at the center of the test and trap, was not the one he expected, but still has been replaced with a true fake of my own creation." Stormbrow said as he began to morph back into Harry. "My friends and I are training not only Wizard magic, but House Elf magic but also in Muggle ways, so that we can fight this evil before it grows too strong."

"You do not ask to be trained as a Centaur?" Bane asked with sneer in his voice.

"No I do not, as it is not my right or place to ask such a thing," Harry responded in a neutral voice. "As I am not a member of any Centaur herd."

"Then what would you ask of us?" Rowan asked softly.

"Nothing beyond what you are willing to give," Harry responded. "The continued protection of your forest and all within her. The protection for those who come within the boundaries of the forest, but wish the forest no harm. But only if you are willing. Eventually an alliance between yourselves and me personally, but only when it is understood that nothing else will be asked, except what is freely given."

"You have free access to our forest as long as you show you are a true friend to it." Rowan answered. He then mumbled, "You have given us much to think about." They then turned as one and within a few seconds Harry was again alone in the forest.

~o0o~

Over the next time compression Harry revealed what had happened in the forest to his friends, needless to say they were not happy. Hermione, Neville and Ron ganged up on Harry and let him know that they were not happy that he did something so dangerous by himself. They continued by letting him know that they expected to be part of his next adventure, because that was what friends were for.

Harry took the time to compile the groups Muggle schooling tests and material that had to be turned in to the Muggles, at the rate they were going each of them would have completed their A levels by the end of the next year. The only issue was that the Muggles would only at most allow for the equivalent of two years worth of material being returned in a calendar year. Even so the Twins would graduate from Muggle School in their sixth year of Hogwarts, at least as far as the Muggles were concerned. While at the same time, the 1st years would do the same in their fourth year. Harry of course would finish nearly a year earlier than everyone else, since he started earlier.

The interesting thing about learning both Magical and Muggle allowed them to begin wondering about what else they could combine to be more effective in the fight they all knew was coming eventually. Neville and Hermione were already experimenting on the potion version of Termite and C4 combination, by making it at different strengths and concentrations for different uses as well as the different ways to ignite it. The twins and Harry were working on ways to combine magical and Muggle joke and tricks with the idea of them being either a new gag for the twins' future shop or to be used as weapons against the darkness. Ron and Neville were working on ways of using plant and/or their parts as weapons either by themselves or as parts of potions. The rest of the group were training not only to become better fighters, but also as broom attack squadron, since the majority of them were on the Quidditch team anyway.

Harry explained to his friends that he would need to return to the 3rd floor corridor whenever they found out that Voldemort was going to go after the Sorcerer's Stone. Since Harry already knew that his friends would not allow him to return by himself, he agreed to not only train them to help, but use some of their new ideas along the way. So for the next three months in real time and the next fifteen in compressed time, they trained and prepared for the showdown.

The last month of school, Dumbledore made several trips away from the school, each time making sure that it was done in such a way that everyone in the school knew he was leaving, but never when he would return. Harry and his friends would just shake their heads at the antics of the old man. Even with the knowledge of what Dumbledore was doing, they made sure that someone was monitoring the Marauder's Map which the twins had revealed during their compressed time with Harry. Because of those actions though they increased their training even more in preparation.

Harry had laughed himself silly when he saw the map, he then explained who each person listed on the map was and the reality of Sirius Black's imprisonment. After some discussion it was agreed that the map would be copied so that everyone in the group had one for their own use as well that the original would be framed and placed in Harry's trunk as part of shrine to his parents. They never checked out the area that they were in or they would have seen the name 'Peter Pettigrew' on the map in the location were Scabbers, Ron's Rat, slept.

Finally the end of the year exams was being held. None of Harry's friends had any problem with the material and they were all given an O for each class. Hermione was already talking about what classes they would be taking as electives in their third year. Harry thought that he would take Divination and Muggle studies as it would be impossible for him to take either Runes or Arithmancy without revealing he already had Masteries in both subjects. When it was revealed that each of them could be at the same level by that time, Ron, Neville and Hermione agreed it would be the best, though Neville wanted to also take Care of Magical Creatures to act as a counter point to both Herbology and Potions. Finally Harry and everyone else agreed on taking Divination and Care of Magical Creatures as being what he would select in two years, even though Hermione wanted to take all the classes she could, even Muggle studies.

The evening that the last test and trap was completed by Dumbledore; He was actually shocked when he received an owl. The message was apparently from the Ministry, so Dumbledore made a scene, letting it be known by the whole school that he was flying to the Ministry of Magic, even though he was not completely convinced that the message was legitimate. Harry and the others immediately knew what was going on; it would have taken Dumbledore seconds to use the Floo to travel there but would take hours to travel by broom.

"Time to lock and load," Harry said to his closest friends. Even though it was a Muggle reference, everyone knew what Harry meant.

Ron, Neville and Hermione each nodded and then quickly got up from dinner and headed toward the Room of Requirement to gather their things and prepare. Each had their own supplies to gather as they changed clothing. Hermione was selected to act as the group's medic, which meant she would stay behind the others and be fully stocked with healing potions. Ron was the logistic side of the mission and would be monitoring the map and backing both Harry and Neville. Neville would be acting as the secondary muscle as he had developed into a physically strong young man, but he also was the most advance with his Animagus transformation, other than Harry, so he was the secondary tank and the explosives expert. Harry was dressed in his armor, but had it disillusioned. He also had his sword, a pair of Oglets and a small axe.

Finally after an hour, they met back in the common room of the trunk and each acknowledged that they were prepared with a simple. "Ready."

Ron nodded when he saw the form of Quirrell entering the 3rd floor corridor.

When they reached the area, they found that the Cerberus was already asleep due to a harp of all things, playing softly. Harry decided to cast the "_**Quick Sleep**_" spell on the animal as well to make sure that it remained asleep. He then opened the trapdoor and looked at Neville.

Over the last few months in compressed time, Neville had perfected his potion that acted the same as the Muggle Termite and C4 combined. He even had created it in several different forms with a multitude of uses. The form that it was now in was a grey paste and potions combination. The boy in question, pulled out a small potion vile filled with a bright red potion with gold flecks. He quickly coated the vile with the thick paste and then dropped the flask down the opening.

"5," Neville began. "4…3…2…1" and then he yelled, "Fire in the hole"

At that call each one of them ducked and tried to take cover. The hall then shook with the resulting blast and a massive flare of light and heat that escaped the trapdoor's opening. Neville smiled and explained. "The red potion was the activating agent, when it dropped on the Devils Snare, the plant crushed the vile they then combined and…"

"Boom" each one of the children responded with a short laugh before jumping into the hole. Harry had made sure that they each knew the spell that would slow their decent and as such they easily landed in the now cleared area without harm, though they did notice that the Devil's Snare was splattered on the walls as they landed.

Neville took one look at the locked door in the area with keys and then smirked shaking his head. He quickly transformed into his bear form and hit locked door with his body. The door was held by magic, but the immense weight of bear his size was enough to shatter the door in two pieces. They quickly pushed the pieces apart and hurried to the next area.

Ron smirked at the chessboard and after a quick thought on what they could do since not all of them could fly, he laughed and then sent a "_**Bombarda Maxima**_" at the white king. The spell caused the opponent King to explode into rocks. Since the game was to protect the king and the king had been destroyed, the enchantment was also destroyed, allowing them to pass without a problem.

When they entered the Troll's room they noticed that the monster was dead and had a hole in the center of its chest, but they continued on without a second thought. Ron and Neville were then directed to return and remain hidden in the giant chess room and be ready to attack anyone that came from either direction. Hermione and Harry continued on, with the understanding that Harry was not going to allow Hermione to get in any threatening situation if he could help it.

{Armor} Harry mumbled. He and Hermione watched as Harry's bracelets began to grow and reform. Soon his arms were covered with bracers and his hand covered with claw enhanced gloves. Hermione was shocked as Harry had never used the bracelets before and the transformation was startling.

She watched as a mental as well as physical transformation came over Harry while he subconsciously flexed his claws. Gone was the boy who loved to hang out with his friends, also gone was the boy who trained them in both the Muggle and magical world. Before her now stood a fully trained Goblin warrior in human flesh, readying himself for battle. While he retained his eleven year old body, he stood straighter and his eyes gleamed with untapped power. The change was unsettling for her to watch.

Without a word, they walked into the room that held the potions and as they knew would soon be alight with fire. As soon as the fire began, Hermione cast the flame freezing charm behind them, while Harry did the same thing in front of them. Without a second thought Hermione hugged Harry and softly said, "Good luck"

Harry simply nodded and then gently hugged her back, making sure not to snag her robes with his claws. He then disillusioned his claws with a goblin spell and headed toward the last room. Even disillusioned he had plenty of practice with his claws making him deadly.

~o0o~

Quirrell was staring at the mirror when Harry entered. Of course he was immediately noticed by the host of Voldemort. "What are you doing here Potter?" He asked in fake curiosity.

"As if you and I both don't know," Harry responded coldly.

"So you want the stone as well?" Quirrell asked in genuine confusion this time.

Harry began to laugh. "Hardly" He responded. He then threw what appeared to be an over powered bone breaker curse at the distracted and surprised man, in reality it was Harry's normal power. He realized early in his training that some beings were so full of themselves that they had to discuss things before even considering an attack; it was a weakness, one that Harry liked to exploit. It allowed his a chance to get the first strike.

The curse hit the man in the left side and destroyed five of his ribs. Harry intentionally held back on the curse, so that he would not reveal his true power to a known enemy, otherwise that whole side of Quirrell's chest would have been destroyed in one shot.

Harry then flung a curse that neither Quirrell nor Voldemort knew. A heavy shield was thrown up by Voldemort as he fully took over Quirrell's body. The spell flew through the shield as if it was not even there. It struck Quirrell's body and both host and parasite began to scream. The ancient exorcism spell known as "Soul Separation" was beginning its work.

The spell only weakened the bond between the possessing spirit and the host with the expectation that another spell would force the spirit from the body when the bond was properly weakened. Harry had no desire or intention of using the second spell, instead he attacked physically, knowing full well that he could cast the spell again to further weaken the bond if he needed to and it would make the fight even that much easier.

Disillusioned claws met flesh as Harry launched at Quirrell's prone form with a viciousness only known to Goblins. A quick slash to the face and chest followed by one to each arm and the weakened host began to bleed freely. Harry cast the soul separation spell again causing both host and spirit to scream a second time. It was then that an unexpected thrash of Quirrell's body knock Harry backward.

Harry was enraged not realizing or caring that the hit was an accident created by the body thrashing instead of a true attack. He withdrew an Oglet and threw it true. The tri-angle shaped dagger struck the man in the chest cutting deeply into his heart. At that moment Quirrell was well and truly dead and Voldemort knew it, though Quirrell had yet to realize it.

With a final scream, the spirit that was Voldemort left the gurgling body of Quirrell in hopes of escape. This was what Harry had been waiting for, wanting Voldemort to leave the body freely. As the black mist that was Voldemort, rose from the dying body of Quirrell, Harry began chanting a spell that was intended to capture and destroy the soul, not release it as the second spell would have done.

Once the spirit was completely freed of the body it began to gather itself as it prepared to flee, instead of fleeing though a sphere of light encircled the screaming spirit and slowly began to constrict. The essence and soul of Voldemort were being crushed to death. When the spell reached its zenith, the ball of light was struck by a brown spell from behind Harry. Harry was shocked that someone had interfered and began to turn to see who was so stupid to interfere, when the backlash of his own spell hit him. Harry was knocked into oblivion.

~o0o~

Dumbledore was not stupid enough to actually fly to London to respond to an unsigned request for help, instead he took a few minutes by Floo and quickly arrived at the Ministry. He then took the time to locate the individual who sent the missive and only then would he actually leave. After an hour of hunting down each department in the Ministry, at least those he felt were important, Dumbledore knew that the note was supposed to lead him away from the castle.

Upon returning to the castle he realized that both Harry and Quirrell had gone after the stone. He smiled as he headed toward his private entrance to the area in question. It would be amusing to watch Harry struggle through the test he had set for him.

The Cerberus was asleep as expected. Though the old man was confused why there was no music and the animal was still asleep.

Dumbledore was shocked when there was no Devils Snare to stop his fall, not even a leaf. He only had the smallest opportunity to slow his rapid descent and even then fell rather hard on his butt. Rubbing his ancient posterior he continued on. He noticed that the door had been shattered by a great force. While he was not happy that the boy had not chosen the broom, he was still satisfied. In his arrogance, Dumbledore assumed that Harry had cast an overpowered blasting hex to destroy the door, he did not even pause for a moment to check his belief.

The condition of the chess board was such a shock that he did not notice a disillusioned Ron and Neville. His focus was on his own delusional thoughts that Harry was alone and because of that he did not even consider others possibly helping him. He completely ignored the condition of the Troll as he passed it. Dumbledore was so completely shocked by the use of the fire freezing charm that he also missed seeing Hermione, who was only partially hidden in the shadows of the room. Instead he was mumbling to himself, "I never considered that." He then quickly disillusioned himself and walked into the final room.

Finally reaching the room in which Harry was defeating Voldemort in, just after Harry had enclosed Voldemort's spirit in the sphere of light, he wrongly assumed the spell was Voldemort's and attacked with an ancient and powerful spell that was a combination of a blasting and banishing hex.

He was shocked when Harry turned in his direction. The boy's face showed not gratitude or relief but pure rage, it was then for the briefest of moments that the old man considered that it was Harry's spell that he had disrupted and not Voldemort's. His thoughts left him as he watched Harry crumble to the floor as if boneless and Voldemort's now tattered spirit flee the area. Even then the old man did not consider he had disrupted Harry's spell.

No one but Harry would know that Voldemort's memory had been affected by the spell Harry had cast. The spell literally destroyed the spirit's memories from the newest to the oldest as it destroyed the spirit itself. By the time Dumbledore interfered, Voldemort had last his memories of the past three years and would never be able to restore them. Even though Harry did not know the extent of the damage, he knew that some had been done.

~o0o~

Dumbledore waited a few moments before he took Harry to the Hospital wing so that he could cast his own diagnostic spells on Harry. The various spells intent were not medical in nature, but to check and see about the condition of the blocks he had placed on the boy when he was an infant.

Dumbledore was shocked to see that the blocks he had placed were not present and by his scans it appeared as if they had not been present for a very long time, year in fact. Knowing that the boy would realize that something had happened if he cast the same blocks, since the boy would lose a great amount of his power and that would be too obvious, Dumbledore decided against casting them again and instead cast an elaborate power draining spell which was intended to power the wards of Privet Drive as it reduced Harry's power.

The spells were absorbed by Harry's protective armaments and armbands, so they did not affect him at all. Dumbledore never checked to see if the spell had settled, instead believing in his own superior power. The spell would not have worked anyway as the wards around Privet drive had long ago been removed and replaced with others that had no ties to Harry or his family.

In hospital wing Madam Pomfrey bustled into the room when Professor Dumbledore came in levitating Harry's unconscious body. She quickly scanned Harry's small form and then frowned. Then without a second thought she forced the Headmaster out of her domain, with a threat of giving the elder Headmaster a full physical if he did not comply.

Her findings were strange but the only thing that was truly medical in nature was that he was suffering from magical backlash of a high level. When she checked his core for damage, she nearly dropped her wand at the readings, but instead of telling anyone else, she made a silent vow to at least talk to the boy before revealing anything.

All he needed were a few potions to help restore his core and make him more alert. He would be conscious long enough to answer some questions. Her face was lined with confusion as she slowly fed the potions to the small boy.

Harry woke five minutes later with a small headache and feeling very tired. When he looked up he saw the concerned face of the nurse and cussed, "Damn"

"Indeed," She responded. "Due to some strange readings on my scan I have a few questions."

Over the next hour Harry and Pomfrey talked, after which she became the first adult member of Harry's group. He revealed his armor and claws. He then took them off, hiding or reduced them in size. The fact that he was wearing armor surprised her in that the Headmaster did not notice something was amiss, which was explained by the use of the Goblin version of Disillusion. Harry then explained his full medical history to the woman. With that the mothering woman scanned Harry thoroughly, looking for any old injures that had not been healed when she found none, she let Harry go back to sleep on his own without the aid of a potion.

The next morning just after Harry woke up, Dumbledore glided into the Hospital wing, his violently vivid robes flowing in the breeze he created with each step. He was not happy, he was not happy that Harry had not activated the charm he had placed on the mirror, so now he himself could not retrieve the stone, since he wanted to use it to extend his own life. If he attempted to have Harry retrieve it now, it would look badly on him; since he had made it known that he was protecting something. To have a small school boy retrieve it would definitely look bad for him in the public eye, even if that school boy was Harry Potter.

"Awake at last Harry," Dumbledore said in his best grandfatherly tone, his twinkling mildly.

"Yes sir," Harry responded keeping his tone neutral and moderately respectful even though he hated even seeing the man. He did notice that his friends had surrounded his bed with sweets and a coded message in the form of a get well card. It warned that the whole school had been informed of the night before. The code phrase was hidden in the message, "Get well soon and let your health be shared by all."

Dumbledore unknowingly confirmed the hidden message by revealing that the whole school knew about his adventure. He then made the mistake of telling Harry that the stone had been destroyed. Even the smallest amount of hope Harry had about Dumbledore died at that moment. He made a small token argument over the fact that without the stone the Flamels would die.

"My friend Nicolas and I agree that it is for the best, he has time enough to put his affairs in order and then yes he will die." Dumbledore said with a sad look on his face. Harry knew that was a lie.

Dumbledore spent the next ten minutes in small talk with Harry hoping that the boy would ask some questions. He was upset when Harry asked no questions that would lead them into further discussions about the stone or Voldemort. Finally the disgruntled old man left the area, not seeing the slightly feral smile that crossed Harry's face as he left the room.

~o0o~

That afternoon Harry met up with his friends, he revealed what he and Dumbledore did and did not talk about, after which the friends discussed their plans for the summer. It was decided that everyone in the group would join Harry for one of the different time compression either the 20:1 or the 10:1. Harry planned on doing a 50:1 time compression without his Wizarding friends. It was also decided that to keep up the illusion that Harry was staying with his Muggle relatives that the twins and Ron would 'borrow' the family car and take him to the Burrow a month into the summer vacation. Also during their time in normal time they would try and recruit more students and the occasional adult to help them.

During that time a wraith-like creature known as Voldemort, fled Britain and moved slowly toward Albania. He realized that something had happened since the last memory he could recall was being in the forests of that bleak country. He would return there and work on a plan to restore him to his body and his power.

_**Here ends Harry's first year at Hogwarts. The next chapter shall continue with the summer between the 1**__**st**__** and 2**__**nd**__** year.**_


	9. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters. I am not making money off of them nor do I intend to do so. I am only borrowing them for a brief time.

_**A/N:**_ "Spoken English", 'Thoughts', {Gobbledegook}, [Parseltongue]

_**A/N 2: **_The second year will be much shorter than the 1st was simply because the majority of the events in the 2nd year will go a different direction since they already know about the Horcux.

_**A/N 3:**_ A Portion of this chapter is a reformatted and slightly changed potion directly from the 4th chapter of 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets', while I have added my own slight changes to make the portion work with my fanfiction, I in no way claim the work as my own.

Chapter Eight

Harry arrived at platform 9 ¾ and quickly said good bye to his friend. They had each already been sent a message through Gringotts about a meeting scheduled there, with the cover story that the meeting was about winning a previously fictitious scholarship for their excellent grades, to bring their parents in on that fact that they were also studying toward graduation in the Muggle world, while also being the way that each of them would momentarily disappear and take that time in compressed time, then return minutes later to rejoin their parents.

Harry's time on the other hand would begin moments after arriving at Gringotts with a 50:1 time compression where he would have several surprises.

_**50:1 (12 years, 5months, 2 weeks and 3 days)**_

Harry was met on his first day of the compression not by his family, but by a grizzled old Goblin warrior and a person that resembled a man outwardly, but did not feel human. The Goblin was introduced as High General Axeblinder and the 'man' was introduced as attendant Nightflyer. Harry knew that Nightflyer was not human regardless of his appearance, but was unsure what exactly he was in truth.

Harry knew that High General Axeblinder was second in command only to the Royal family and in all things military had the King and Queen's ear and trust. He explained that Harry was going to go through an advanced military and battle training session. It was also explained that if Harry passed the training at a level that the General accepted he would be given an amazing gift at the end of the compressed time, though he was not told what that gift would be.

Nightflyer on the other hand was very secretive not only about himself, but his reasons for being there. The only explanation given was that he was not there to train Harry but to observe him for possible future reasons. Harry did not like the secrecy but something in the power of the man forced Harry to remain silent but also continue to be weary. What he did not know was that was a good thing in Nightflyer's eyes.

The first thing Axeblinder had Harry do was show the elder Goblin his unmodified daily routine and then explain how that it differed from his routine when he could expand his time with extra hours during his 'normal time'. Axeblinder grunted in acceptance, but in reality was extremely happy with the boy's dedication. The routine was extensive and all-inclusive, after all. They then discussed the additions and modifications that Axeblinder could offer in his daily exercise routine and his timing.

Overall Harry's daily exercise took four hours; Axeblinder was able to help Harry refine it down to three without losing any skill or power and allowing Harry the extra hour for other things. Harry would be spending an additional six hours in advanced training. Harry would then be allowed an additional three for Wizard magical training. This schedule increased his physical training to an extreme, but likewise cut his magical training from an average of six to eight hours a day to almost nothing.

Over the time spent in time compression Harry's physical body at the age of fourteen was the best that it could have been with tight and hard muscles and quick hard to see speed and agility. He gained the respect of Axeblinder who secretly considered Harry a worthy student and successor. Finally at the end of twelve years of time compression, the elderly Goblin came to Harry and reveal the other reason for his presence during the time compression as well as why his parents had not joined them.

The daily exercise had finished and Harry was going through his cool down exercises. He was enjoying the cool moss under his toes as he went through the different stretches. He was fully aware when the Goblin approached. Harry gave him a respectful bow and waited for his teacher to speak.

{Young Stormbrow, I now must tell you the reasons for our training and give you a choice,} Axeblinder said with soft rumbling voice. {Your general training with our people as you know is for the full destruction of the Dark Wizard Voldemort as well as fulfilling the prophecies in which you are named.}

Harry nodded and quickly sat down at the feet of the elder Goblin.

{I am sure you have wondered why your Goblin parents did not meet you here, but you have wisely chosen not to ask,} He continued. {They were not allowed to join you during this time compression on the orders of the King, so that you might make your own decision on what is about to be offer to you.}

Harry silently nodded that he understood.

{I was informed that you have the ritual ability of Power Grafting, is this true?" Axeblinder asked.

{Yes, General it is true.} Harry responded.

{My life time is growing very short,} the Goblin explained. {Once we finish this time compression I have little more than a month before this old body will give out on me} He then huffed in frustration, the request he was about to make was harder than he thought. The idea of a Goblin dying of old age and not in battle was hard for any of them to accept.

{I have been training you not only to fight the evil that the Wizards have name Voldemort, but in hopes that one day you will be my military successor and take my place as our military leader. I offer you not only the opportunity, but I also offer you my power.}

Harry was shocked, not only was he being offered the chance to advance in the future of the Goblin military, but he was also being offered the magical power of a Goblin. Not only would he have to ability to use Goblin magic, like he did presently, but he would gain the magical core of a Goblin, allowing him even greater range of power, as well as greater ease at using that magic. Harry blinked twice quickly and then asked, {May I think about it over night?}

The elderly Goblin smiled and nodded. He was well pleased.

What Harry did not know was that Nightflyer was observing them nearby and invisibly. He too was well pleased with the young one, but he saw something that concerned him deeply and would concern his charge even more so. There was an unresolved stress hovering over the young Hero, that not only would his charge have to be made aware of but also young Harry as well.

A few minutes later, both Nightflyer and Axeblinder were having a short conference.

"What is your opinion my old friend?" Axeblinder asked in a language that they both understood but Harry could not.

"You have chosen well, he considers your gift wisely, but we both know he will accept it" Nightflyer responded.

Axeblinder began to laugh in a deep rumble and shook his head, "That was not my question and you know it."

"True, but the answer is the same for both, he is well chosen," Nightflyer admitted. "My only concern is that time may become a detriment before it can become a benefit. The boy is showing signs of un-resolving stress and that may cause trouble in the future."

"What do you think your charge will think of young Stormbrow?" Axeblinder asked changing the subject slightly, hoping for a new opening that would allow them to fix the problem without interfering too much.

Nightflyer smirked, his mind already following the Goblin's thoughts and was in agreement. "My nephew will find him interesting, compelling and extremely attractive. I am sure that once this time compression is over I will be able to talk to your people and be able to go back a month or so. That way I may report to my brother and possibly bring them together before the summer's end."

They both sat there and smiled for several minutes. They looked it their idea and plan as a way to aid in fulfilling a prophetic warning before the stress grew to be too much. It was also suggested that during the 30:1 time compression it would be best for Stormbrow to be with not only his Wizard friends but his parents and Goblin friends. That way it would help stave off the stress caused by such a drastic difference in compressed time and real time. After all the boy would be roughly sixteen years old physically with the mind of someone several years if not decades older by the end of the summer.

The next morning after his early morning exercise routine and just before his advanced training classes Stormbrow came and bowed before Axeblinder. {High General Axeblinder, I accept your offer of the grafting with gratitude and great hope for the future.}

In that moment, Stormbrow became not only Axeblinder's student, protégé and replacement, but he also became the Goblin equivalent of his grandson, to share not only the ancient Goblin's military legacy, but also his gold and possessions. {I know you will Stormbrow Deatheyes and with our combined power you will make our enemies quake in their sleep}

The next day would be the last full day of the time compression and the day that the grafting would be done. Because of the energy required Stormeye's schedule was reduced to allow him to have the extra energy for the ritual.

The ritual rooms in the individual time compression chambers were designated in Gobbledegook by size: small, medium, large and transport sizes. The only size ritual room that Stormbrow never had any dealings with the transport size. Which was as large as the holds in a Muggle cargo ship, and rightly so as that was what they were used for, moving cargo and supplies long distances. The Room he and Axeblinder on the other hand was the small size, which was slightly misnamed as it was 21 feet by 21 feet in dimensions.

The room had no surface that was not etched in protective and empowering runes and symbols. Harry would have liked to remain in the room just to examine the etchings themselves. In the center of the room was a circle inside a circle etched with Goblin Runes, which in turn was inside another circle that had an ornate symbol at each of the four directions and the same halfway between.

Harry was led to the center of the inner most circle by a cloaked and hooded Goblin. He was placed with his head pointing North, His feet South and each arm pointing East and West. Axeblinder was then led in from the opposite direction and placed in the circle in the opposing direction that Harry was. Their hands touched and then the attendants placed Harry's hand below Axeblinder's in such a way that they grasped each other's wrists.

Harry uncomfortably tried to watch as a group of hooded Goblins entered the room, each taking a spot at the compass points and halfway between. They began chanting and that was the last thing Harry remembered.

What Harry missed by being unconscious was the sight of Axeblinder's core being gently removed from his body and it merging with Harry's. The rust colored core began leaking out of the elder Goblin's body as a fine mist, that as the ritual continued grew into a dark rust cloud in perpetual movement and finally as the core came fully out of Axeblinder's body it took on the form of a quasar and slowly moved over to Harry's body and began to reverse the process, adding itself to Harry.

The act of grafting the magical core of one being to another is not without pain, adjustment or other risks. Harry would have felt his own core reacting violently and painfully, if he had been awake. The term grafting was actually incorrect but it was the closest to accurate that the ancient Goblins and Wizards could agree upon. In truth the new core was placed in the body alongside the original core with small to medium sized tendrils connecting each core to the other. Each core could not only easily cast spells specific to their own separate and individual races but could also act as an emergency back-up for the power of the other core. For all intents the amount of power was increase only by fifty percent but the overall ability to access magic was doubled.

Harry woke an hour later to find himself in his private rooms. The room now was filled with not only his own personal items but items that had been bequeathed to him by Axeblinder. It was at that moment he knew that the Goblin he had studied with for the last twelve years was no more, and he mourned.

Harry was now physically just short of his 15th year, mentally he was nearly 40 and emotionally in his early 20's.

~o0o~

Nightflyer had returned to the beginning of June and spent three days enjoying a quick vacation as he waited for time to catch up with itself. The day his three day vacation ended was the day after he had left on his mission to England and the Goblins. He knew that he would not be faulted for taking a quick vacation as his leaders knew the stresses that time travel and time compression could put on a person physically but also mentally and emotionally.

The castle was large and black with the stones being constructed out of the lava stones that had been common in the area. It was constructed to stand intense heat while remaining cool inside and was easily defended. Unlike most human castles, castle Draconus did not have a massive main gate that allowed for travelers to enter with wagons and supplies. Instead the castle had a system of hidden and obvious doors, most of the obvious doors were in fact traps or confusion gates, which teleported the individual entering them to one of a dozen random locations with a strong '_**Confundus**_' charm placed on them.

Nightflyer concentrated with his eyes closed. As the seconds passed, the man grew a pair of leathery wings that when fully extended were more than twice his height in length. With a slight hop he was airborne; a lazy flap of his massive wings forced him higher and higher. A few moments later, he landed lightly on the nearest tower's walkway.

The man was met almost immediately by a vibrant Quetzalcoatl or flying serpent. The winged and feathered snake was approximately fourteen foot long, with tri-toned green scaled skin with emerald, jade, ruby and burnt orange colored feathers, each feather with a jade tip. The serpent's eye showed its great intelligence and guile. [You have returned so quickly, did you complete your task with the Goblins and Wizards?] The serpentine creature asked in the hissing language of snakes.

Nightflyer did his best not to smile at the excitement that was clearly in the Quetzalcoatl's voice. [Yes, young one and things look very promising, but I must report quickly to King and Lady Draconus.] He then noticed the slight drop of the serpent's head and he smiled. [I will tell you all about everything when I am done, okay?]

The Quetzalcoatl's nodded in a slightly sad way [Ok I understand].

An hour later the King had been informed of what Nightflyer had learned and a plan to introduce Prince Quetz to the Goblin's world of finance, combat and spell casting, plus possibly allow the young man the chance to meet Stormbrow Deatheyes, his potential mate. He left the king and met up with the teenage prince to fulfill his promise.

_**30:1 (7 years, 6 months, 2 weeks and 1 day)**_

A grieving Harry was silently transferred to the next time compression chamber by a group of Goblins and House Elves. The young man just followed the Goblins and did not even notice the change of location until he saw the concerned faces of Sharpmaw, Stoneater, Hermione and Ron. With a weak smile he greeted his Goblin family and his friends. A few moments later, he explained what had happened and his feelings.

After Harry calmed and seemed to be more relaxed the bossy nature of Hermione kicked in and she began describing and revealing all the lists and plans she had created for the seven and a half years that they would be in compressed time. She was shocked when Harry began to laugh and actually fell out of his chair trying to regain control.

A frustrated Hermione finally demanded, "What is so funny Harry James Potter?"

A still giggling Harry responded, "Our time here has already been mapped out by my parents and the teachers, they know what each of us needs to learn before the next time compression and even more so before we return to Hogwarts."

Hermione blushed at the realization that things had been planned out well in advance and the adults did not need her input or interference. Ron took that moment though to ask a question that had been on his mind since the school year ended, "Why do we have to go back to Hogwarts if we will already be fully trained?"

Harry cocked his head to the side in a move that showed everyone else that he was thinking of a proper way to explain his plan so that Ron would fully understand. His eyes slowly filled with light as he came to a decision and then he smiled, he would use a chess analogue. "Consider it a combination of strategy and tactics that will affect not only the Magical world, the school world of Hogwarts but our own personal lives as well."

When Ron's eyes did not show any understanding, Harry decided to break it down for the pre-teen. "We are looking at a war that was not only predicted by a witch, but also a Centaur and Goblin Seer. We already know that we cannot trust Dumbledore to be any real help, so we need to build an army of our own."

"If we are fully and properly trained when we go back, we can have our core group each recruit people from the year above and below them as well as their own year. With the exception of the 7th years, we have every year covered and a heavy dose from those in the 3rd through 5th years." Harry continued.

"If each of us recruits just two students from each of the grades surrounding us, the eleven members of our core group would increase to sixty-six next year and those sixty-six would be three hundred and ninety six the year after." Harry finished.

Hermione then interject, "Harry that is almost all the students at Hogwarts and what about the people that graduate or are in 7th year, the math does not follow."

"Oliver Wood is our oldest member and he will graduate at the end of our 3rd year." Harry began to explain. "By that time he will have friends who will have already graduated, who as adults can help us from outside of Hogwarts." Harry paused when he saw the look of understanding in both Hermione and Ron's faces.

"Once they are adults, their focus will be on recruiting from specific areas in the Wizarding world, like Aurors and Healers, but by simply leaving the goal at recruiting two new people a year for the adults, we will have a force to be reckoned with by the time the Prophecies start to happen." Harry explained. He then considered, "Even if we each only recruit two a year total, by the time 5th year rolls around we will have three-quarters of Hogwarts helping."

Harry then altered the conversation, "Once we have the recruits, it will help that we are fully trained in the Hogwarts subjects, so that we can in turn train the new people." He again paused to make sure that they were following his thoughts. "That covers the Hogwarts side and part of the World in general, what you need to think about is with this training you will be able to be in either the Muggle or Magical world and not have any problems getting work, living and making friends. With the amount of training and contacts we will have you could basically have any job you wanted and the skills to back it up."

Hermione then asked a question that had been on her mind since the very beginning of their acceptance into the time compression caverns, "Harry, I understand why they are helping you but, from everything that I have read, Goblins rarely if ever willingly help humans and it is unheard of them ever allowing us into their private world, why are they doing this for us?"

Harry smiled and tried not to laugh at the question, it was so typical Hermione. Just as he was about to answer the question it was taken from him by the arrival of Lady Seer Blindsight.

Without preamble the blind Goblin began speaking in English, "The Prophecy Child shall slow after he is joined by the Tawny Owl, Great Brown Bear, the young Lion, the Crow pair, the Loon and the Wolverine. Knowledge is gained to the detriment of the mind, Strength is gained to the detriment of the body," She paused before continuing, "Time is spent to the detriment of the heart, once he is joined by the cat, the grim and the cursed one." She then paused a second time and finished the prophecy, "The learned half-breed and the gentle goliath shall be of an aid, but none shall help as the Great Dragon, the Prophecy Childs mate. Great is he that is the mate of the Prophecy Child."

She then smiled as she turned her unseeing eyes toward Hermione and softly said, "The first of the three parts is presently nearly fulfilled, all that remains is the Loon and the Wolverine. We of the Goblin nation have a duty to help the Prophecy child and those who stand with him as ordered by the prophecies themselves."

Hermione nodded in understanding and after a moment her face showed the pride she felt in being part of such an undertaking.

The time that was shared by Harry and his friends was divided up between individualized training, physical and martial arts training, school training, research and regular amounts of fun. Ron and Hermione each finished their Muggle education and began the groundwork that would led them to their first Masteries, Ron's in Charms and Hermione's in Transfigurations. Harry on the other hand spent his time focusing on learning from a small group of elderly House Elves.

By the end of the first year, Harry had a deep friendship with an ancient female House Elf named Noxy. The tiny creature was barely a foot and a half tall, but her eyes were sharp and so was her tongue. Even though the elf was nearly three hundred years old and deferred to any wizard as had been her training, she did not see Harry as a Wizard but as a "Gobbly boy" and a "Magic Boy", both of which got her true respect. Even with that respect the tiny elf would allow her tongue its sharpness.

When they began to have private talks and training sessions Harry realized what the old elf was planning on doing. Part of him did not want to lose her, but another realized that she was dying, even though her magic was still strong, her physical body was worn out. At that realization Harry began showing the elder elf his love with regular hugs and tiny kisses on her wrinkled brow. It was decided that they would do the grafting at the end of the second year, allowing Harry time to grieve and grow into his even greater power.

Harry was now physically part way though his 15th year, mentally he was nearly 46 and emotionally in his late 20's.

_**20:1 (4 years, 11 months, 3 weeks and 5 days)**_

Anyone who knew Harry could see that the death of both the Goblin general and the ancient House Elf weighed heavily on his heart and mind. He truthfully felt that their deaths were a waste. While he did realize that they would have died anyway, but to willingly accept death to help him was something Harry could not fathom, even with all of his Goblin military training. Even without understanding it, Harry honored their sacrifice with all of his heart.

The rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Neville joined Harry, Hermione and Ron for this time compression. The team would return home after this time compression, but were excited to be part of the time with Harry. Each of the three friends helped the others either finish or nearly finish their Muggle Education and advance in their Magical training. They even were allowed to have time for extensive Quidditch training and simulated games with golems which acted as professional Quidditch players from historical Quidditch matches, much to Oliver and Ron's delight. That training brought the team together as a whole and allowed Neville and Hermione the time needed to be comfortable riding on a broom.

During their regular relaxation times at night, Harry explained his plan to build an army to the others, which the others expanded upon and only made minor changes. One of the changes was that they were going to be friendly with all of the incoming 1st years, regardless of house, even to the point of offering them tutoring. Even with Harry's thoughts and plans the teens and pre-teens would have never guessed at the massive turnout they would have in the future.

By the time that the compression was over the Gryffindor team was as good as any professional Quidditch team and all of the participants were in prime physical condition. Ron and Hermione now both were in their middle 20's at least mentally. Harry was now physically 16th years old, mentally he was 50 and emotionally in his 30's. Each of the teens commented to either Sharpmaw or Stoneater about the stress and haggard look that was now obvious in Harry's face and his actions. If it had not been for a message that Sharpmaw had received, the goblin couple would have attempted to stop the time compression and given Harry time to unwind and come to grips on the changes that had happened in his life.

_**10:1 (2 years, 5months, 3 weeks and 6 days)**_

Quetz Draconus was nervous and a bit fearful, as the crowned prince that made him feel confused and disconcerted. He knew as he stepped into the massive cavern that not only was he going to be learning finance, battle stratagem and racial magic from the Goblins, but he was also going to be meeting the young man that might one day become his mate. While the idea of the Goblins made him nervous, the idea of meeting his mate caused him immeasurable amounts of fear.

Harry watched the cavern portal with interest; He had been informed that the son of a foreign dignitary was going to join them so that he could learn finance and Goblin battle techniques. What Harry saw come through both intrigued him and put him on edge.

The older boy stood just over 6 feet tall with a deep rich tan showing not only his Central American heritage, but the fact that he enjoyed being out in the sun. His eyes are emerald color with a ring of jade on the outside and a starburst of light orange around the center. His body was muscular, like that of a swimmer and Harry could tell through his tight pale blue shirt and tan Dockers pants that the muscles were not overly exaggerated or distended. Even wear the already mentioned shirt, Harry could see that the boy had abs that formed an eight pack instead of the usual six pack. His hair is raven black with just the slightest hue of burnt orange and red. He had an easy smile as he had smiled several times as he spoke with those who had brought him to the cavern.

Quetz noticed a well built teen with black hair and gem-like green eyes, who was sitting on a small rock, just inside the cavern. His attention was drawn to the young man's ears and upper chest. He then thought it was a strange combination to attract his attention and then he noticed why. The teen who appeared for all and intents human had pointed ears, much like his own, but it was the tiniest movement of the ears that was the reason for his attention. The boy's ears moved instinctually to follow sound, like a feline or canine, but the movement was so subtle and the moves so small that it was almost missed by his own perceptive eyes. His chest on the other hand was muscled perfection and it drew him to it in a completely hormonal fashion.

Harry liked what he saw. Quetz liked what he saw. The problem was that they both knew that they were potential mates and they did not want to possibly mess up their future by revealing their hand too quickly. Before they could either think of the idea on how to try to avoid each other, they found that their instructors had other ideas and learned that they would have several classes together each day, including the morning exercise.

Ron, Neville and Hermione again joined Harry in the time compression and were all surprised that the twins, Fred and George also decided to return. Neville and the twins divided their time between creating new potions, Herbology studies and completing the weak areas in their individual educations. By this point in time each of them had not only perfected their Animagus transformation, but were able to do their physical training as individual training, without an instructor, though the occasional instructor came by to spar on occasion.

Harry had completed his Mastery in the Dark Arts and it's opposite the Defense of the Dark Arts. In his heart, mind and magic he was not dark, nor was he light, he was grey. It was during this time that he perfected the use of wandless magic to the point that even with a multi-core wand, his magic threatened to burn out the core. It was decided that he would use the wand blank from that point on and return the multi-core wand to its maker, so that someone else in the future might be able to use it.

Harry and Quetz were always civil to one another and the mutual attraction was obvious to everyone around them, but they still refused to let things evolve beyond a calm and arms-length friendship. By the end of the time compression Ron and Hermione now both were in their early 30's at least mentally and had agreed to date, even after having to deal with Fred and George and their teasing. Harry was now physically part way through his 16th year, mentally he was almost 54 and emotionally in his late 30's.

With the unresolved stress still being a factor, it was decided that they would not go into another time compression but would, return to the past once again, restarting the summer months. The time would allow Harry the time he needed to relax. It was also decided that Quetz would remain with the Goblins until the time for everything to realign and only then return home. Harry was happy to show the slightly older boy around Britain, both Muggle and Magical.

After Harry and Quetz spent their time together, Quetz would return home and Harry would meet up with the others moments after they left Normal time originally. This would allow Harry's action to remain hidden from Dumbledore and his people.

_**Normal Time (3 months) **_

Sharpmaw and Stoneater forcefully encouraged their adopted child to take time and visit several Wizard and Muggle attractions around Great Britain. Their reasoning was both truthful and deceptive at the same time, 'Stormbrow Deatheyes had been working too hard for too long and needed time to just be a youth'. While that was true, they also hid the fact that they wanted him to get to know Quetz in a relaxed setting.

It was decided that they would alternate between strictly Muggle, strictly Magical and mixed excursions. Alton Towers theme park was the first Muggle attraction they visited, they planned on only spending the day, but ended up spending three days. Fairy Den in Ireland was the first Magical location that they visited, both Harry and a surprised Quetz left with crowns of magical flowers weaved in their hair. No one told the youths that they crowns were identical in everyway. Stonehenge was decided as the first mixed location. What surprised Harry was that the ruins did not appear as ruins once a magical person passed a specific border.

Harry and Quetz enjoyed the next three weeks as they examined Great Britain. They became good friends and talked about their hopes, dreams and plans for the future. Quetz was the only person outside the core group of Harry's friends that knew what Harry and the Goblins had planned. By the time that Quetz had to return to his own home, he had agreed to help Harry if he needed it and they both agreed to correspond over the next year.

Harry watched as the Weasley's left the bank, he was excited to see the younger Weasleys later on that night. It had been decided that the twins and Ron would 'borrow' their family car and help Harry escape his nasty Muggle relatives, or at least that was the story that they would tell the adults.

As was expected Molly Weasley 'caught' the boys as they returned from their daring rescue. They were promptly yelled at and after eating a large breakfast, the Weasley boys were sentenced to de-Gnoming the garden. Harry was excused from it, being that he was a guest and not responsible, but he instead helped out, learning to do the job and about Gnomes in the process.

Over the next month Harry enjoyed his time at the Burrow, talked to his Goblin parents daily before the house became active and used his trunk so that he and his friends could continue to practice and advance. He enjoyed the not only working toward his goals, but also just being a kid.

Mrs. Weasley was shocked but equally ecstatic when her house was regularly invaded by not only the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but also several first years including Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger. At first the overprotective woman was suspicious that they were up to something, which they were, but they were able to fool her by spreading across the chaotic house in what appeared to be study groups, not only doing the summer homework, but also working on potions.

Molly was concerned when she noticed that her twins tended to gravitate toward the potions more than any of the other areas, but she fell silent when they showed her their completed summer homework and after reading it, showed that it was completed properly. She finally changed and went into full hostess mode.

What Molly did not see was the small groups disappearing and entering one of two trunks that Harry had brought with him. Everyone of them spent a regular day in compressed time in each of the trunks and the same amount of time in regular time, equaling just over one month of time per week for the next month.

Finally the day to go the Diagon Alley to get the next years supplies arrived. It was a chaotic morning and they decided that it would be quickest and safest to travel by the Floo network, instead of driving. As the guest, Harry was allowed to go first. The explosive exit he made was only matched by the equally explosive exit he made at the 'Leaky Cauldron'. Harry rolled like a cannonball into a table halfway across the room.

Harry and the table had been set to rights by Tom the owner just in time for the next person to arrive, who just happened to be Ron, who was laughing as he arrived.

"Blimey Harry you blow Percy and Mum off their feet with the backwash you made." Ron said with a laugh, his face as red as his hair as he laughed.

Harry just grumbled softly and looked very embarrassed as his 'Floo Allergy' seemed to have gotten worse instead of better.

Finally fifteen minutes later everyone of the Weasley's had arrived and were filing into Diagon Alley. Once they were all in the alley, they turned to Mrs. Weasley for their marching orders.

"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in an hour to buy your schoolbooks," said Mrs. Weasley, then setting off with Ginny toward Madame Malkin's. "And not one step down Knockturn Alley!" she shouted at the twins' retreating backs, who appeared to be heading toward Gambol and Japes. Harry, Ron, and Hermione strolled off along the winding, cobbled street.

The bag of gold, silver, and bronze he had Sharpmaw retrieve from his vaults was jangling cheerfully in Harry's pocket clamoring to be spent, so he bought three large strawberry-and-peanut-butter ice creams, which they slurped happily as they wandered up the alley, examining the fascinating shop windows. Ron gazed longingly at a full set of Chudley Cannon robes in the windows of Quality Quidditch Supplies until Hermione dragged them off to buy ink and parchment next door. Harry made a mental note to himself to buy the robes for Ron's Christmas present.

In Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, they met Fred, George, and Lee Jordan, who were stocking up on Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks, and in a tiny junk shop full of broken wands, lopsided brass scales, and old cloaks covered in potion stains they found Percy, deeply immersed in a small and deeply boring book called Prefects Who Gained Power.

"A study of Hogwarts prefects and their later careers, " Ron read aloud off the back cover. "That sounds fascinating . . . ."

"Go away," Percy snapped.

"Course, he's very ambitious, Percy, he's got it all planned out ... He wants to be Minister of Magic. . . "Ron told Harry and Hermione in an undertone as they left Percy to it.

An hour later, they headed for Flourish and Blotts. They were by no means the only ones making their way to the bookshop. They actually had no need for the books, but it was to keep up appearances. As they approached it, they saw to their surprise a large crowd jostling outside the doors, trying to get in. The reason for this was proclaimed by a large banner stretched across the upper windows: GILDEROY LOCKHART will be signing copies of his autobiography MAGICAL ME today 12:30 P.m. to 4:30 P.m.

Hermione and Harry groaned. Hermione originally had a crush on the man, but after Harry's prodding had done a complete timeline of the man's books and found several places in time that what he wrote was impossible, so they decided he was a complete and utter fraud.

"I can't believe, he's written almost the whole booklist, it is scandalous!" Hermione complained.

The crowd seemed to be made up mostly of witches around Mrs. Weasley's age. A harassed-looking wizard stood at the door, saying, "Calmly, please, ladies ... Don't push, there ... mind the books, now . . ."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione squeezed inside. A long line wound right to the back of the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was signing his books. They each grabbed a copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 and sneaked up the line to where the rest of the Weasleys were standing with Mr. and Mrs. Granger, just so they could tell Mrs. Weasley that they had arrived.

"Oh, there you are, good," said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute."

Hermione, Harry and Ron glared as Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard's hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair.

A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash.

"Out of the way, there," he snarled at Ron, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the Daily Prophet -"

"Big deal," said Ron, rubbing his foot where the photographer had stepped on it.

Gilderoy Lockhart heard him. He looked up. He saw Ron and then he saw Harry. He stared. Then he leapt to his feet and positively shouted, "It can't be Harry Potter." The crowd parted, whispering excitedly; Lockhart dived forward, seized Harry's arm, and pulled him to the front. The crowd burst into applause.

Harry's face burned as Lockhart shook his hand for the photographer, who was clicking away madly, wafting thick smoke over the Weasleys.

"Nice big smile, Harry," said Lockhart, through his own gleaming teeth. "Together, you and I are worth the front page." When he finally let go of Harry's hand, Harry could hardly feel his fingers.

He tried to sidle back over to the Weasleys, but Lockhart threw an arm around his shoulders and clamped him tightly to his side. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said loudly, waving for quiet. "What an extraordinary moment this is! The perfect moment for me to make a little announcement I've been sitting on for some time! "When young Harry here stepped into Flourish and Blotts today, he only wanted to buy my autobiography -which I shall be happy to present him now, free of charge-"

The crowd applauded again. "He had no idea," Lockhart continued, giving Harry a little shake that made his glasses slip to the end of his nose, "that he would shortly be getting much, much more than my book, Magical Me. He and his schoolmates will, in fact, be getting the real magical me. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure and pride in announcing that this September; I will be taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" The crowd cheered and clapped and Harry found himself being presented with the entire works of Gilderoy Lockhart. Staggering slightly under their weight, he managed to make his way out of the limelight to the edge of the room, where Ginny was standing next to her new cauldron.

"You have these," Harry mumbled to her, tipping all of his books into the cauldron. "I'll buy my own -"

"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter." said a voice Harry had no trouble recognizing. He straightened up and found himself face-to-face with Draco Malfoy, who was wearing his usual sneer.

"Famous Harry Potter," said Malfoy, "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" said Ginny. It was the first time she had spoken in front of Harry. She was glaring at Malfoy.

"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" drawled Malfoy. Not noticing the heated look he was getting from Quetz, who had just arrived, while at the same time Ginny went scarlet and Ron and Hermione fought their way over, both clutching stacks of Lockhart's books.

"Oh, it's you," said Ron, looking at Malfoy as if he were something unpleasant on the sole of his shoe. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry here, eh."

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley," retorted Malfoy. "I suppose your parents will go hungry for a month to pay for all those." Ron went as red as Ginny. He dropped his books into the cauldron, too, and started toward Malfoy, but Harry and Hermione grabbed the back of his jacket.

"Ron!" said Mr. Weasley, struggling over with Fred and George.

"What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well - Arthur Weasley." It was Mr. Malfoy. He stood with his hand on Draco's shoulder, sneering in just the same way.

"Lucius," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids ... I hope they're paying you overtime." He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.

"Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it." Mr. Weasley flushed darker than either Ron or Ginny.

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.

"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley ... and I thought your family could sink no lower" There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying;

Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him backward into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads.

There was a yell of, "Get him, Dad!" from Fred or George; Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!"

The crowd stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over; "Gentlemen, please - please!" cried the assistant, and then, louder than all "Break it up, there, gents, break it up -" Hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books. In an instant he had pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy apart. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip and Mr. Malfoy had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools. He was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice.

"Here, girl - take your book - it's the best your father can give you -" Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop.

"Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr. Weasley off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ta' the core, the whole family, everyone knows that - no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter - bad blood, that's what it is - come on now - let's get outta here." The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them leaving, but he barely came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it. They hurried up the street, the Grangers shaking with fright and Mrs. Weasley beside herself with fury.

"A fine example to set for your children . . . brawling in public . . . what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought -" She bellowed at her husband, creating just as big of a scene herself.

"He was pleased," said Fred. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving. He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report - said it was all publicity."

Quetz had arrived in the hopes of surprising Harry but instead was surprised by what he had seen. He made the quick decision to have the Malfoy family investigated, watched and when the time came, they would be financially destroyed. He had been pushed back as the crowd swelled and the fight broke out but now he moved quickly to be near his mate.

Harry was aware of Quetz presence and was happy to see him, but his focus was on Ginny's cauldron, something in it had changed and it felt _**'familiar'**_. He decided quickly that the Goblin's were the only ones to help and being that they were also the closest, he hatched a plan to get the family into their protection.

"Mrs. Weasley, I need to go back to Gringotts, I forgot I had an appointment and begins in five minutes." Harry said with his eyes projecting innocence.

"Well my dear if you hurry," She responded.

Harry saw that she intended for her family to wait elsewhere and that just would not do for Harry's plan. "I might be awhile and I might need some advice." Harry said in a tone that was almost begging.

Moments later they were headed toward the bank. Harry was holding Ginny's hand and leading the whole group, including Hermione and her parents. Ron and Hermione both realized something had happened and Harry was leading them to the bank for protection, Ron was rightly afraid that it had something to do with Ginny, his baby sister.

Harry glanced at the Goblin guards at the door and with silent set of body language instruction told them to follow and seal the doors of the bank. Once the Weasleys, Grangers and the Goblins were in the bank, Harry yelled out, {Nos Develus, KREE!}


End file.
